Through your black hair, my hands, Alt Translation
by tinanl
Summary: Alt translation of Chinese fic. LV/HP, Time travel, AU, bit of MPREG.  Harry lost the war and died but ended up in the past, first meeting six year old Tom Riddle, then attending Hogwarts where Prof. Riddle was teaching DADA, love moves in mysterious ways
1. Introduction

Hi, some of you may recognize this story from Crownofglory's page, as she mentioned already, this HP fic was originally written in Chinese and Crownofglory had translated around a quarter of it. The link for the original story is below:

http :/ / www. jjwxc. net / onebook . php? novelid= 257980

I originally learned of this fic when I read the fic "Schooled" by Wyrdsmith (which is hilarious by the way and highly recommended) being Chinese my self I went and had a look at both Crownofglory's partially translated fic and the original, finding that I liked the fic and also wanting to do something for Wyrdsmith as well as others who left reviews hoping to read the fic in its entirety, I decided to finish the translation (I read a lot of fanfic and I rarely have the chance to repay any authors so this was a good opportunity for me to give something back to the fanfic community).

I sent a PM to crownofglory but have yet to receive a reply back so I decide to go ahead with the project. I debated whether I should continue on from where Crownofglory stopped or start from the beginning myself and in the end I decided it would be best to start from the beginning so I can really familiarize myself with the whole story. Also I didn't want to read someone else's translations then try to imitate their style or continue it halfway (I had only read chapters 1-10 of Crownofglory's translation anyway).

I have currently reached chapter 16-20 (about a quarter of what Crownofglory had done) and I hope to be able to post at least chapters 1-20 (I am grouping the chapters in 10s so they will be posted 1-10, 11-20, etc.) during this weekend. As I have never posted anything on before, please bear with me if the formats etc. get a little messed up.

Thanks.

_Spells/Latin _or _Written text/letters_

[_Parseltongue_]


	2. Chapters 1 to 10

**1.**

At the Ministry of Magic, in the Time Room of the Department of Mysteries, Death Eaters and those who were once proud but are now traitors who have bowed down to Voldemort are pointing their wands at Harry Potter, who is panting as he leans against a clock-shaped crystal case.

"Avada Kedavra"

Countless green lights shatter the crystal case, igniting a cataclysmic explosion and in the resultant blinding, golden light, Harry vanished.

Harry is walking along a dark corridor, he has been walking since he awakened, with no end in sight and his feet were beginning to ache. Finally, exhausted, he leans against a door with the sign "1938" on it, perhaps he was leaning too hard as the door swung open silently. Looking inside automatically, Harry could see nothing but darkness with a tiny light several steps away. He couldn't help but approach the light hoping to find out what it was but instead ended up being sucked into it.

He fell heavily to the ground, completely disoriented, after regaining his feet, he discovered that it was sometime in the afternoon and he was in a forest. After checking to make sure he still had his wand, Harry carefully moved ahead finding nothing out of the ordinary, it seems to be just a normal forest, suddenly he heard sounds of a scuffle.

"You are a freak!"

"I am not!"

"You are! You are a hateful, disgusting freak! Sooner or later, you will go to hell, Tom Riddle!"

Then there were more noises of a scuffle.

Harry stopped, did he really just hear the name "Tom Riddle"? Voldemort was here? His whole body was shuddering, he could not forget how he was defeated, even after six horcruxes were destroyed, Voldemort's might was unchanged. Harry could only just duel him to a standstill but Voldemort has taken over the Ministry with endless deceitful words and material enticements. The Ministry then helped him to fool the people and once the people believed that Voldemort would not engage in senseless slaughter like he did during the last war, the existence of the Order of the Phoenix became unnecessary. Harry had to admit that he had failed. In order to avoid more needless casualties, he disbanded the Order of the Phoenix and went alone to meet his end, only once he was dead would Voldemort leave the ex-Order members alone, at least for a time so that they may rest and recuperate. He also had to admit that did not measure up to Voldemort, perhaps Slytherins perseverance and the ability to manipulate others that Gryffindors could never achieve.

After several moments of hesitation, Harry finally walked towards the noises, to his surprise, instead of Voldemort, he found Tom Riddle the child, Tom was surrounded and being beaten by several children and his black hair was covered in dirt, his large, brilliant eyes were burning with anguish, rage, despair and helplessness. The scene and Tom's expression reminded Harry strongly of his own dark childhood.

"Stop it!" he yelled, "If you don't stop I'll stop you!" he pushed up his sleeves and approached the boys angrily.

The children scattered and Tom Riddle rolled to his feet, he looked at Harry like he thought Harry shouldn't have interfered then turned to leave.

"Why do they call you a freak?" Harry guessed that it was for the same reason that his Uncle and Aunt had called him a freak when he was young.

Tom turned around violently, "It's none of you business! Get!"

"I helped you, the least you could do is lose the attitude." Harry scowled and spoke in the manner of an adult scolding a child. Okay, it was very hard for him to treat this child of five or six as though he was a mighty opponent.

"I didn't need your help, I could have taken them myself." The boy said contemptuously.

"You were obviously losing." Harry pointed out.

A sinister smile appeared on the boy's face and he hissed [_Come to me, my sweet_]

A black snake soundlessly slithered closer, [_Go, bite him._] Tom hissed as he pointed at Harry.

As the black snake prepared to attack, Tom smiled coldly with his hands on his hips.

Harry raised an eyebrow, yes, he had forgotten that Tom was a Parselmouth, no, it was more appropriate to say that he had not realized that Tom had discovered that he had this ability at such a young age.

_[Stop.] _Harry said, [_Go back to where you came from.]_

The black snake obediently slithered away.

Tom Riddle gasped in show, "You…you can…"

"Talk to snakes, Yes." Harry smiled faintly.

Tom rolled his eyes and a fist sized spider the rose behind Harry to bit him. Years of battle-honed reflexes had allowed Harry to easily recognize and eliminate the threat.

"_Petrificus Totalus."_

The spider froze solid as a rock and Harry easily flicked it away.

Tom regarded Harry's wand with awe, "What is that?"

"A wand. A wizard's wand." Harry said.

Tom frowned, "You're a wizard?"

"Yes, so are you." Harry's voice lowered, "A very special wizard."

"Then I can also have a wand?" The child looked greedily at Harry's wand.

"Of course. When you go to school at Hogwarts, you will have your own wand."

"When will that be?" The bewildered boy asked.

"When you're eleven."

Tom's scowled and moved closer to Harry, "But … I want one now!"

He suddenly reached out to grab Harry's wand, Harry waved his wand, cast the _Tarantallegra _hex silently and Tom immediately began to dance uncontrollably.

Harry enjoyed tormenting the child, it felt like getting back for the hurts he would suffer decades later.

After struggling futilely, Tom was panting with fatigue but could find no way to stop, never having experienced such humiliation he finally began to sob. In a panic, Harry quickly took off the hex, Tom was still sobbing and Harry crouched nervously beside him.

"I was only playing around, there's no need to cry. Looking at you now, who would have thought that you would rule the world one day."

The boy stopped crying and his eyes brightened, "I'm going to rule the world?"

Harry answered despondently, "Yeah, using the name Voldemort."

"Voldemort? What a strange name." Tom sneered in disgust.

Harry looked at him in amusement, "You don't like it? You invented this name yourself."

He waved his wand and golden waves emerged from his wand, it writhed snakelike into the words "Tom Marvolo Riddle", "So, this is your name." he waved his wand again and the letters rearranged themselves into the words "I am Lord Voldemort".

"You didn't like your father because he was a muggle, that is, someone without magic, so you discarded his name." Harry recalled that Voldemort would later kill his father and couldn't help feeling a wave of unease.

After a moment's silent, Tom coldly asked, "How do you know what's going to happen to me in the future?"

Harry expression turned cold, he finally realized what that corridor was, it was the Corridor of Time and the door marked 1938 was the year 1938. The mighty Voldemort of decades later is now just a five or six year old child, if Harry killed him now, the problems of the future would no longer occur.

He stood and pointed his wand at Tom, the boy froze and fear flashed in his eyes for a moment, however he stilled then asked quietly, "What are you thinking? That you should kill me?"

A smart child, too smart.

"Yes, if I kill you now, there won't be so many problems in the future." Harry's voice was like ice and in his heart he whispered _Avada…_

Tom knew that there was no way he could escape so instead he closed his eyes as though willingly accepting death, only his quietly shivering body showed his fear.

"So kill me then, I'm a freak anyway, nobody loves me!"

The words pierced Harry's heart like a knife and he once again recalled his own childhood, abused because he was an orphan, considered a freak and an omen of ill fortune because he could not control his magic, but none of this was his fault.

The wand slowly lowered as though it weighted tonnes. Harry was silent for a few moments, then he put away his wand and took Tom into his arms tightly. "I'm the same as you," he said, "an orphan, raised by muggles, able to speak to animals, but I don't hate muggles like you. Even though they don't have magic they are still smart and advanced enough that they can live easily and comfortably without magic. Although there are bad people among them, most of them are good. I wish that you could see that." He lowered his eyes, "I can't kill you, we are too alike. Be well, Tom."

He turned around to go back the way he came but suddenly felt like someone had pushed him and seconds later he was laying outside the 1938 room.

Tom silently looked in the direction the young man had disappeared, amazed at the wonders of magic. What kind of magic allowed a person to travel to the present from the future? Many years later, after learning that the Department of Mysteries had such a thing as a time turner, he speculated that the man had used a time turner in the future to come to kill him, but finally could not do it because they were too similar. He thought that the man would come to kill him again, but the man never appeared again, he questioned whether the man had been punished for failing his mission, like he punished his servants. This thought frightened him. He didn't want the man to die, he wanted him to live! He always, always remembered the man's embrace, gentle yet painful, he could feel the man's sorrow and agony and the weight of the hurts pulled at his heart. For an instant, he felt the urge to weep. When he was younger, he did not understand what he was feeling, it was only later, as he grew older, that he understood what the feeling meant. He always remembered that on a sunny afternoon, a tired looking man walked towards him, his wide wizard robes seeming to almost crush his slender frame, but his face nevertheless showing a resilient smile as though nothing could defeat him. The man had emerald green eyes like the sparkling waters of a lake and a head of messy black hair.

As Harry's hair was too long, Tom did not see the scar on his forehead, otherwise Voldemort would have recognized Harry with one glance the next time they met.

**2.**

September, 1977.

Harry walked onto Platform 9 3/4 wearing secondhand robes and with an old backpack, inside which were all his books and stationery. As a penniless orphan living at an orphanage, he was on Hogwarts scholarship, even though all his belongings were secondhand, he was very content.

That day he had pushed open the door to 1977, hoping to see his mum and dad when they were younger, but he fell in and somehow regressed to the age of eleven, his eyesight, which he had fixed prior to the war using a solution that he asked Professor Slughorn to make, returned to the poor level it was at before the potion, the head of the orphanage had to take him to get a pair of spectacles. Harry chose a similar frame to what he had before.

Afterwards, surprisingly, he received a Hogwarts letter and a younger Professor McGonagall delivered 30 galleons of scholarship money, she was going to go with Harry to Diagon Alley for his school supplies but Harry painstakingly talked her out of it, a younger Professor McGonagall was just as terrifying.

Harry did end up buying a female Snowy Owl and naming her Hedwig.

About his reliving of the future, Harry had considered it in depth. His biggest problem was that he did not know how long he would be staying in this part of history, if it was only for the seven years of Hogwarts, he would not need to try to change anything, he only needed to stay unnoticed as he finishes his schooling and enjoyed his much longed for peace. If, however, he would be staying indefinitely, he already knows the future and can alter it slightly at opportune moments to ensure that his parents' survival and Sirius' freedom, perhaps he would join the Order of the Phoenix and fight Voldemort once again. It may be possible that this could change history, if not, he will again die fighting, if so, he hopes that he could get a job at the Ministry of Magic, not as an Auror, he no longer had any passion for fighting, but in the Muggle Liaison Office, he remembered the flyers from fifth year, the requirements were not high, he only needed an OWL in Muggle Studies, it suited the role he intended to play, that of just an ordinary guy.

After boarding the train, Harry started to search for an empty compartment, he saw his mum as a child, as well as his father, godfather and Remus, they were already getting well acquainted but he did not wish to meet them, after all, as a fifteen year old, he had been ashamed of his father's behavior as student. However, he did wish to meet his mum, unfortunately her compartment was full. He walked to the last compartment and found only one person inside.

He pulled open the door and amiably asked: "Are there any spaces here? Everywhere else is full."

The young man who had been concentrating on his book glanced at him and his appearance struck Harry like lightening and Harry stood stock still, all thoughts having fled. Greasy black hair, sallow skin, dark eyes, thin lips, sitting there was Severus Snape, the person Harry least wanted to meet again.

"If you like." Snape replied dryly, then immediately buried his head back into the book.

Harry gingerly sat down, hunching his body as small as possible, hoping to reduce his presence. Even after fighting side by side with Snape for seven or eight years his still did not know how to get along with the man, he could understand Snape's hatred for his father as well as Snape transferring that hatred to him, but all his understanding could not improve their relationship. Right up until Harry had disbanded the Order of the Phoenix, the two of them still did not speak to each other unless absolutely necessary.

Would this younger Snape be as hard to deal with as the older version?

After a period of contemplation, Harry decided to reach out a hand in friendship, perhaps he might be able to find an appropriate way to get along with Snape which might be useful if he ever returned to the future. And if he could build a good relationship with Snape, he may be able to prevent Snape's most humiliating memories from happening a few years from now, he didn't want his father to harm others too much in his overwhelming arrogance.

So he silently rehearsed several times then smiled in a friendly manner and greeted Snape in as humble a tone as he could manage, "Hello, my name is Harry Potter, pleased to meet you." He extended his hand, his heart beating so heart that it felt like it would jump out of his throat, if his father's arrogance would hurt Snape, he would utilize his own passionate amity. He prayed to Merlin that this Snape would not become as hard to get close to as the one he knew.

Snape ignored him.

Rebuffed, Harry considered just letting it go so that he would not seem like a fool, but he could not get rid of the images of Snape's lonely childhood swirling around in his mind, bringing out his own pained empathy, alright, he had thick skin, he can ignore the painful past and still live optimistically, Snape was sensitive, it was natural for him to be a loner, he would just have to try harder.

Snape glared at the hand thrust under his nose, once again lifting his head to look at the idiotically grinning face, he had already clearly shown that his did not wish to interact with anyone, why did this idiot persist. The grin had grown somewhat stiff, no longer as natural and bright as before, and the hand was also slighted shaking from maintaining the same position for so long.

What an idiot.

But that peaceful face was rather suited to that idiotic grin, it seemed to grow on you the more you see it.

Extending his hand, grasping the other, a slight shake, "Severus Snape."

The grin got more idiotic! Snape rolled his eyes.

He did it! He did it! Harry continued to grin in a silly way, little Snape was definitely easier to get along with than older Snape! He had a chance, as long as he continued to get close to and understand little Snape, he would be able to get along with older Snape when his returned to the future.

**3.**

When night fell, they arrived at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall was waiting for them inside the majestic castle, the sorting was about to begin.

Having already been through one sorting Harry was naturally not as nervous as the other students, he nonchalantly leaned against the wall while he speculated as to which house he would be sorted into this time, he probably shouldn't go to Gryffindor again as he would not be able to consolidate his budding friendship with Snape if he was sorted into that house.

"You aren't nervous as all." Snape looked at Harry searchingly, this is the first time he voluntarily spoke to Harry since they met several hours ago. Harry's calm, a complete disparity to the rest of the students, was also completely different to his idiotic behavior on the train.

"Because," Harry rolled his eyes and snarked, "they can't kick us out of here, it doesn't matter which house they sort us into." He gave another silly grin.

Snape had the urge to roll his eyes, "Idiot, houses do matter! If you get sorted into Hufflepuff, don't tell anyone you know me."

"Severus, you are so heartless." Harry said with mock sadness.

"Huh."

The students put on the Sorting Hat one by one, Narcissa Black, Sirius, Crabbe, Lily, Goyle, Remus, Malfoy, Pettigrew, then it was…

"Harry Potter."

"Potter?" someone repeated.

Harry quickly glanced at that person, it was James. James obviously did not think that there would be another Potter in his year, he glanced at Harry then looked away. An ordinary fellow, not worth his notice, thought James.

Harry put on the sorting hat and same as it did twenty years later, it struggled for a long time, "Slytherin!" it still thought that Harry would succeed in Slytherin.

Hopefully he wouldn't succeed as a Death Eater, Harry thought despairingly. He wanted to go to Ravenclaw or even Hufflepuff, but he still ended up in Slytherin, boy is the hat stubborn.

James went to Gryffindor, Snape of course, was a Slytherin, following the order he sat opposite Harry. Harry immediately gave him a huge smile, Snape snorted but the corners of his mouth lifted a barely noticeable amount.

This time Harry was truly able to relax and leisurely observe the head table. A Dumbledore who was less wrinkled that the one he knew, Professor McGonagall, Professor Slughorn who still had some yellow in his hair, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and then…

Harry jaw almost hit the ground, oh Merlin, who was he looking at?

Black hair, red eyes, handsome features that could measure up to any movie star and a tall, broad frame. Harry had met him once inside the diary, at that time he was a student who had framed Hagrid causing him to be expelled, and this person had then received a "Special Award for Services to the School". He had once seen him in Morfin Gaunt's memory, when he learned of his father from Morfin; he had also seen him in the memories of Hokey the house elf, at that time he was working at Borgin and Burkes and coveting the two treasures of Hepzibah Smith, Hokey's mistress. And twice in Dumbledore's memories he had seen this man, once when he was a child and once when he had fully matured. Harry had also met him in person and fought with him many times. Voldemort, or Tom Marvolo Riddle, Harry wasn't sure which name he was using. Damnit, didn't Dumbledore turn him down, why was he among the professors? What had happened?

The mystery disturbed Harry and he was unable to concentrate on anything else, the delicious food was completely without flavor to him. He needed to find someone to tell him about this situation.

After dinner, Dumbledore made his routine announcements about the forbidden items then officially concluded the feast. Harry and Snape walled together at the rear of the Slytherin first years.

"Severus, do you know the professor with the red eyes?" Harry asked.

Snape's eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "He's the DADA teacher, Professor Voldemort. He's a very great man, as great as Headmaster Dumbledore."

"But he looks really young, he must be a fairly new professor right?" Harry pretended that he what he was interested in was Voldemort's age.

Snape shook his head, "He's not young, he's forty-five, he just looks young. The last headmaster, Headmaster Dippet hired him the day before he died, it's been fifteen years now. Also, he's our head of house."

Harry felt a moment of disorientation, this wasn't the history he was familiar with, according to his knowledge there had never been a DADA professor named Voldemort, and Snape's head of house was Professor Slughorn! How could history change? He hadn't done anything in 1938? Now Voldemort was both the DADA professor and the Head of Slytherin and it would be easy for his to gather followers this way. If thing kept moving in this direction, if Harry did not return to 2012 after graduation, he would definitely die in combat while living in the past. The future seemed very dim to Harry.

Snape stopped, "We've arrived."

Harry pushed his glasses back up his nose, quite pleasantly surprise, "Severus, we're roommates."

Finally, some good news.

**4.**

Four years later.

Harry pushed his trunk towards the last compartment of the Hogwarts Express, this was his and Snape's compartment. Although the reclusive Snape got along well with Lucius Malfoy, he did not deign to sit with the likes of Crabbe and Goyle. And Harry with his strange scar and old fashioned glasses that covered more than two thirds of his face was regarding as the lowest ranked Slytherin, along with his abnormally high marks in Muggle Studies he was seen as the disgrace of Slytherin. With two such people in the compartment it was hard for a third student to feel welcome, of course, these two were greatly hopeful that this situation would not change.

Softly pulling open the door, Harry greeting Snape, who had his head in a book, in these several years, the friendship had become unshakeable. "Severus, did you have a good Summer vacation?"

Snape reluctantly lifted his head, slightly struggling between answering the question and continuing to read his book, smile an almost non-existent smile then said, "Same as always, I was mostly reading. And you?"

Harry shrugged and opened Hedwig's cage letting her have the run of the compartment. He excitedly pulled away Snape's book and started discussing the summer work with him. At this time, a flurry of footsteps sounded outside the compartment and they could hear and male and female voice arguing.

The voices were very familiar to Harry and Snape, it was James Potter and Lily Evans.

In line with the history Harry was familiar with, in James' four years within Gryffindor he was a celebrity within Hogwarts, he, Sirius, Remus and Peter were the Gryffinfor Marauders and the teachers both liked and were exasperated by them, students mostly worshiped and liked them, the Gryffindor Quidditch team, where James was a Seeker, had already easily won the Quidditch Cup three times and Gryffindor had also won the house cup three times. Their only enemies in the school were Harry and Snape. Every time they met stirred the fighting instinct on both sides making it a six man free for all, the situation got worse after James started to openly pursue Lily Evans. Boys always hoped that the objects of their affection rated them highly, so Harry and Snape suffered, in fights in last year alone were more than the total of those in first to third year. If it wasn't for Voldemort's favoritism, Harry and Snape would have been put in detention countless times like James and Sirius. So for Harry and Snape, neither of the people outside the compartment were ones they wanted to see, although Lily was somewhat innocent in this.

James and Lily walked to the rear of the train, still arguing progressively louder.

"Evans, I don't understand why you don't like the compartment I got for you, your friends all liked it."

"Potter, I don't need you to do anything for me, your actions only make me feel annoyed."

"I'm just thinking of you Evans. With so many people on the train, you girls couldn't possibly have found a compartment to accommodate all of you. As friends, you wouldn't want to be separated right?"

"Just because my friends and I don't wish to be separated doesn't mean you and your friends can interfere. The impression you've given in the last four hears hasn't exactly been good!"

"What's not good about us? I'm McGonagall's best student, Sirius and I are Gryffindor's best students, Remus is a Prefect, even Professor Voldemort has nothing but praise for us!"

"You and Black have the most detentions of all the students in Hogwarts!" Lily snorted with derision.

Hearing this, Harry couldn't help but smirk, his mum really had a sense of right and wrong.

"But… but that's because Professor Voldemort is unfair, otherwise idiot Harry Potter and Snivellus would have more detentions than us!" James said resentfully.

"Ha! Speaking of this," Lily clapped her hands, "really James Potter, as I see it, Harry Potter and Severus Snape are obviously much better than you and your friends. I would much rather spend time with them than look at you!"

Harry and Snape looked at each other blankly, she was joking right?

A Gryffindor girl, sitting alone with two Slytherin boys, knowing that she had indirectly caused them much strife, however you look at it, it would be- unwise.

If Harry, who had always spoken well of Lily, was not there, Snape would have given this brainless woman some grief. In these years, as Snape was tormented by James and is cohorts, the one who had aided him was not Lily as in another past, it was Harry, so he not only had another to love, he was filled with resentment for Lily. He looked at Harry, grumbled, then buried his head back in his book.

Harry felt just as awkward. He just wanted to peacefully finish his seven years of school life then go to work at the Muggle Liaison Office at the Ministry, lastly he wanted to save his parents' lives, he didn't even want to go to Gryffindor. Becoming friends with Snape was purely and accident, out of righteous outrage he chose to stand up to James with Snape, not wanting Snape's already unpleasant school life to become even more unfortunate, but this meant that he and the Gryffindor lions were completely in opposition. He can only watch Lily from afar, diligently storing up wonderful memories of the mother who would sacrifice her life for him in the future, he had never dared to hope that they could be so close, the out of control circumstances were making his head spin and didn't know what to do or say.

Luckily Lily broke the unbearable silence with her Gryffindor courage. "I'm sorry to disturb your rest."

"No… no, it's okay." Harry scratched his head, making his bird's nest of hair even messier, "We have space here, we welcome beautiful ladies to come and disturb us."

Snape's dark eyes rose from the book and flashed with disdain, then his eyes sank again.

Harry almost gave him the finger.

Lily chuckled at his comment, "You're funny."

Harry scratched his head again in embarrassment, "It's nothing, just wanted to make you laugh."

Lily, recalling James' actions, became solemn again.

Hedwig hooted, flapped her wings, then flew into Lily's lap, clacking her beak affectionately.

Hedwig's snowy feathers and affectionate attitude immediately garnered Lily's affection, she stroked Hedwig then held her in her arms and said happily, "She's so cute! And beautiful! What's her name?"

Harry was even happier than Lily, "Her name's Hedwig, she's a proud princess."

Lily normally didn't like owls, but Hedwig was just too adorable that she couldn't help but like here, "It must be wonderful to have an owl right?"

"Oh, yes! They understand so much and they're so happy to deliver post and parcels for their owners, they're great pets!" Harry went on excitedly, "Last time, Hedwig…"

On one hand, the two were conversing better and better and on the other hand Snape couldn't help but frown. No matter, let him do what he wants just this time, after leaving the train he would remind him. He understood very well the pain of a Slytherin secretly in love with a Gryffindor.

Finally there was a know on the compartment door and a girl timidly called Lily's name, bringing the tow lost in the world of owls and muggles back to reality.

"It's my friend! Looks like I have to get back and make preparations for getting off the train." Lily seemed quite reluctant.

"Ok, see you at the feast Lily." Harry could now say his mother's name calmly, the first time he tried to say her name, he almost bit his tongue.

"See you at the feast Harry." Lily paused and looked at Snape, still with his head buried in the book. "Snape, you as well."

Snape didn't even twitch.

On the way to the Great Hall, Snape warned Harry, "A love affair between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor would cause you to be seen as a traitor Harry, you must not less emotions overwhelm you."

"We're just friends." Not realizing the gravity of the situation, Harry answered casually.

"Slytherins and Gryffindors can only be enemies. If you don't want to be kicked out of Hogwarts, don't get too close to Evans." Snape grabbed Harry's shoulder and warned him.

Harry stared blankly, "It.. it's not that big a deal is it… don't frighten me Severus..."

"Harry Potter!" An angry voice yelled.

**5.**

The one who yelled was a short, stout boy, next to him was a tall, dark-skinned, arrogant girl. Narcissa was closely following Lucius, with his green and silver prefect's badge gleaming on his chest, following behind were tens of upper echelon Slytherins.

Harry jumped in shock, did he do something to annoy this many of the in power Slytherins? "Lestrange, is… is something the matter?" He asked somewhat guiltily.

Lestrange just wanted to _Avada Kedavra_ Harry then toss him into the lake to feed the fish. He was already the worst disgrace of Slytherin in decades, being not only a halfblood with no standing whatsoever, instead of trying to improve himself, he went and got involved with a Gryffindor mudblood, sworn enemies of Slytherins, did he want to shame Slytherin in front of all of Hogwarts!

"Listen here Harry Potter. If you continue to associate with Lily Evans then prepare to be kicked out of Hogwarts!" Lestrange hissed between clenched teeth.

"Head of House Voldemort is already aware of this matter, his asked you to desist, if you don't he will not hesitate to take action." Bellatrix continued.

Lucius would not deign to speak with Harry, even to chastise him. He walked towards his good friend Snape and reluctantly warned him, "Severus, you know the gravity of this matter. If he were a good friend of yours I wouldn't bother to put in a good word with our head of house. Get him to think well on this, there are only three more years until graduation and the OWLs are coming soon, you don't want him to be expelled now, do you?"

Snape glared at harry, nodded his head decisively. "Thank you Lucius. I will definitely clear his head."

After Lucius and the others left, Snape turned to a despondent Harry, "See! If you don't stop your foolish behavior, you are going to be kicked out of Hogwarts! The OWLs are about to start, you are taking the first solid step towards your dream, do you intend to ruin all this because of a girl?"

Harry didn't think the situation would get this bad, after all, he isn't a real Slytherin, he can't understand the way Slytherins think. However at this moment, that was not important, he must make a choice between his planned future and Lily Evans.

He shook his head and tiredly said, "I'll keep my distance from Lily Evans, I don't want to leave Hogwarts."

"Lily, you're the Gryffindor prefect, you can't just do whatever you want anymore. Harry Potter is a Slytherin, there are no good Slytherin wizards!" Lily's friend didn't want her good friend to let her emotions cloud her judgment.

"Harry's different to the other Slytherins, he's a kind student." Lily tried to explain to her friend, "A wizard who likes muggles can't be a bad person…"

"A Slytherin is a Slytherin Evans. Harry Potter is no exception. Anyway, even if he wanted to stay friends with you, the other Slytherins would stop him, included their head of house." Remus interrupted.

Lily obviously did not agree with Remus' conclusion, "You're wrong, Professor Voldemort likes me very much."

"Only in the DADA class. Outside that classroom, he's still a pureblood supremacist Slytherin." Remus argued.

Lily pursed her lips and glared at him.

"If you don't believe me, let's see how Harry Potter behaves in a moment. I bet you he won't even look at you." James walked to Remus' side darkly.

"I believe in Harry." Lily lifted here small chin.

But Harry disappointed her. During the entire sorting and feast, Harry's eyes stayed on the top of the table as though a flower had bloomed there. Her good friend Alice Nate related to her the gossip she had heard from her boyfriend Frank Longbottom.

"It's true, Lucius Malfoy and his group issued Harry Potter an ultimatum, if he continued to associate with you, he would be kicked out of Hogwarts."

Hearing this, Lily was shocked. After a while, she sighed, "Looks like Slytherins can only be Slytherins and Gryffindors can only be Gryffindors."

"It's good that you understand Lily. Gryffindors and Slytherins can only be enemies, never friends." Alice said with pity.

**6.**

Halloween was approaching and there a joyful atmosphere saturated the castle, only Harry Potter was unhappy.

He doesn't regret the choice he made on the first day of school, Hogwarts is his home, no matter if it was now or twenty years in the future, Harry would always consider Hogwarts his home. He couldn't leave Hogwarts, even for Lily. He was just frustrated, frustrated that he and Lily would have to be strangers from now on. If he had only chosen Gryffindor. The thought had just flashed through his mind before being dismissed. If he had gone to Gryffindor, today's Snape would name have been so clean and neat, nor would they be as close as brothers.

Nothing in life is perfect, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Harry silently comforted himself and left the Quidditch Pitch.

When he gets upset, harry would come to the Quidditch Pitch and sit at the top of the stands to look at the whole pitch, imagining the fervor of a game which would immediately cheer him up. At such time, the stands would be filled and the feverish crowd would be pushed to heights of enjoyment. Even though Harry had only been a spectator in the last four years, even though Slytherin had never touched the Quidditch Cup after James became a chaser, Harry still hoped that Slytherin could beat Gryffindor and win the Quidditch Cup. He hoped that Lucius Malfoy could buck up and stop letting James Potter make a fool of him.

The route back to the Slytherin dungeons from the Quidditch pitch when through many corridors and stairs, on one of the staircases, you have to jump over a step in the middle or you would sink into the staircase and be unable to move.

Harry was walking on this staircase.

Suddenly, a pearl white, semi-transparent ghost appeared in front of him, with a wave, Harry was covered in white chalk dust and turned into a snowman.

"Peeves!" Harry yelled, coughing. No ghost would do such a thing except Peeves, who loved pranking.

But this was not the end of it. Harry had just gotten to the disappearing step, he was about to step over it but instead stepped right into the step and sank into the staircase.

"Ha ha! Stupid Harry Potter got stuck! Ha ha!" Peeves taunted harry, then snatched his glasses, "What's Potter going to do without his glasses? He going to fall over because he can't see!" Peeves clapped then flew away.

Harry ground his teeth, the aggravation built up over two months finally had an outlet. Many years of conflict allowed his to find the smallest opening, easily drawing his wand, he cast a levitation charm and floated steadily up to the corridor.

"Peeves, you asked for this!" Harry ground out, "_Accio Peeves!_"

A delighted Peeves had no idea why he had suddenly appeared in front of Harry Potter, he didn't understand why he couldn't help but come here. After looking at Harry, he mocked him again, "So, you got out quite quickly huh? I thought you'd be stuck there till dawn because you're just so stupid! Anyway, you're quite pretty without your glasses, you look a little bit like James Potter though…"

Harry looked at him coldly as he prattled on, "Quit it with the chatter, where are my glasses?"

Peeves smugly flipped in the air then maliciously laughed, "Broken and buried in mud, you'll never find them!"

At this point Harry was enraged, smiling coldly he said, "Well Peeves, you succeeded, you have really pissed me off and you're going to pay!"

"Oh?" Peeves thought Harry's words were laughable, he bent with his back towards Harry and looked at him from between his legs, "Pay? You… are going to make me pay? Slytherin's disgrace, idiot Potter? Ha ha ha..."

"I despise your voice, so shut up." Harry jabbed his wand and Peeves laughter disappeared.

Stumped, Peeves grabbed his neck and stared at Harry in fear, he turned to escape but Harry smiled coldly and jabbed his wand again, the _Levicorpus_ spell invented by Snape hung the poltergeist up by his ankles.

No matter how frightened Peeves was and how frantically he struggled, he could not move at all, Harry _Accio-_ed his glasses then used repairing charm and a cleaning charm on them to make good as new. After putting on his glasses a clear world appeared in front of Harry's eyes again, including Peeves' terrified face.

Harry slowly paced around Peeves several times.

Peeves' face went green, Harry's stare felt like the way Mrs. Norris stared at mice. He got more frantic.

Harry looked his fill at Peeves terrified face, Harry tapped his wand and slowly said, "Peeves, you should understand that in this world, there are those you can mess with and those you can't. And I belong to the latter. Now that you are in my hand, how to you think I should punish you?"

Peeves immediately begged, even being unable to speak his body language conveyed his meaning, but Harry had no intention of asking his opinion, so he quickly said, "How about an _Imperio_? To make you undo Professor McGonagall's hair bun (Peeves paled), or to have a good _talk_ with the fox on Dumbledore's desk (Peeves went green), or to steal Professor Voldemort's obsidian ring (Peeves paled so much he was like a corpse)… too bad that I can't use an unforgiveable." Harry sighed regretfully, Peeves looked like he'd just been let off the death penalty, he was so overjoyed.

"However," Harry stared at Peeves again, "There are still some little spells that are interesting, like using _Stupefy_ to hang you from the top of the Gryffindor tower, the view there is really nice. Or, I could turn you in to a little white mouse, don't think I can't do it," Harry waved his wand again and a spider was floating in the air, its body stiff as a stone. Peeves throat moved several times. Harry waved his wand again and the spider turned into a little white mouse and crawled into a hole in the wall. Peeves' wide eyes filled with despair.

Seeing Peeves' expression cheered Harry up, terrifying Peeves let him release his negative emotions. "This time I'm letter you off lightly, if this happens again…" harry moved closer to a relived Peeves and shook his head, he coldly vicious expression making Peeves shudder, "Very good, don't disappoint me. Also, what happened today is a secret, if you ever tell anyone, I will make you regret that you didn't pass on!"

Hearing all this, Peeves almost fainted, it was too terrifying, Slytherins were really all venomous snakes! He frantically nodded his head almost hard enough to break his neck.

Satisfied, Harry finally released him, freed, Peeves immediate flew away without a backward glance, as though being chased by a cockatrice.

[_It has been many years since I have seen such a good show, Lucius can't even compare to this little one._]

**7.**

A voice sounded from behind Harry, Harry turned around in shock, in the dark hallway behind him a large snake slithered into view, the weaving body was at least twelve feet long, large eyes glowed with a yellow light and a bright red tongue flickered in and out.

Nagini, Voldemort's terrifying familiar.

[_You saw that?_] Harry couldn't help clenching his wand. Due to his overpowering rage, he had obviously neglected his surroundings before beginning his retribution.

[_Of course, I saw it all…_] Nagini stopped and thought back to what Harry said. [_You… you know parseltongue?_]

[_That's not important, what's important is, you saw everything that happened? From the beginning?_]

A strange light flashed through Nagini's eyes, amused, Nagini said, [_Little one, Harry Potter, put away your thoughts of killing me to keep your secret, don't make trouble for yourself._]

Harry shook his head, [_I don't like to kill, be it animals or people._] He lifted his wand, [_But I must adjust your memory._]

Suddenly, Harry's scar started to ache at this inopportune moment.

Voldemort!

Damnit! Harry silently cursed and turned to leave.

"Harry Potter." A voice filled with aversion and impatience appeared, "It is past curfew and you are still wandering the halls! Do you know the consequences of being caught by Filch."

Harry could only turn around to face the angry Slytherin head of house. "I'm sorry Professor Voldemort. I will return to the dorms immediately, I won't get caught by Filch."

Voldemort made an effort to suppress his scorn and loathing and his handsome face twitched several times, "Mr. Potter, please do not test my patience, the results are not something you will be able to bear."

"Yes Professor. I'll just be leaving now." Harry ran. He knows that after the issue with Lily Voldemort despised to the extreme, if he still wanted to remain at Hogwarts he would have to refrain from attracting Voldemort's ire.

[_I can't believe he is a Slytherin!_] Voldemort raged and kicked the ground.

[_You despise him?_] Nagini thought the whole affair was very interesting.

[_Of course! He is the worse student I have ever taught, nobody could be worse than him! If it wasn't for Dumbledore intimating that I can't just have students expelled based my personal dislike, I would have kicked him out in third year._] Even the reminder enraged Voldemort, a Slytherin taking Muggle Studies, Merlin!

[_Really?_] Nagini was even more amused, [_After you hear my story not only will you not think of him as the worst student you have taught, you may even love him madly._]

[_Impossible!_]

Voldemort's quarters were located next to his office, right in the middle of the Slytherin dungeons. The fire burned steadily in the fireplace of the silver and green appointed living room, he sat comfortably on the single sofa, long, straight legs resting on the well stuffed, tastefully embroidered ottoman, his toenails were as were as well maintained and shone as luxuriantly as his fingernails.

At the moment, his arms rested on the arms of the sofa and his fingers were steepled under his chin. [_You're saying that Harry Potter speaks parseltongue?_]

Nagini was coiled on her own green and silver striped rug, her tongue slithering in and out, [_Yes. I am sure that it was not some base imitation but true parseltongue._]

Voldemort was frozen for some minutes, then he carefully reached to pick up the picture on the small, round side table next to the sofa, gently smoothing is out. A youth with black hair, green eyes and a stubborn look in his eyes and a quiet smile once again captured his heart with ease. He went over each detail of the picture and tried to imagine how the real person would look. [_You're saying that Harry Potter looks like him?_]

[_More than looks like, it is as if he is a copy of him, his just has that extra scar on his forehead. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself tomorrow._]

[_Of course I will see for myself. This is a very important matter and I will tolerate no uncertainty or error._] Voldemort lingeringly rerolled the parchment then put it back into the room full of valuables, looking it securely.

Once again resting back into the sofa, Voldemort thought deeply about the pleasant surprise that Nagini had bought to him today. Harry Potter, his most despised student, easily using silent spells while only a fifth year, able to use magic with a smoothness and rhythm well beyond the skill level of a seventh year Slytherin. This was a completely different performance that that he showed normally in class. If Nagini was not mistaken then Harry Potter had been hiding his strength. But why? His only friend is Snape and he has been opposing the Gryffindor Marauders (and Voldemort believes that he is sincere in these actions), he has been low key and lived solely within his small circle and his only ambition was to become a Muggle Liaison Officer in the Ministry of Magic, he has no real ambition and no real goals. Why would he need to hide his strength? Getting into the Muggle Liaison Office is not in conflict with having great strength.

Voldemort could not understand what Harry was thinking.

Of course, more than Harry strength, Voldemort was interested in something else Nagini mentioned about Harry.

Harry was a Parselmouth, and he looked just like the person Voldemort loved and that consumed his thoughts.

What did this mean? This meant that Harry could be the one his loves! Voldemort was sure of this because no one knew better than him how rare Parselmouths were. In his seven years of schooling there had only been two, he and Morfin Gaunt, after the death of Morfin Gaunt, after his graduation, up until now, he had been the only one. After reviewing many tomes and questioning countless elders, he had discovered that only descendants of Salazar Slytherin were Parselmouths, so he had put all his efforts into location Slytherin's descendants. Unfortunately, due to Salazar Slytherin's flawed nature, most of his descendants had disappeared into the dust of history, Voldemort himself was the only known, surviving descendant. Without Salazar Slytherin's bloodline, one cannot be a Parselmouth, this well known fact within the magical world had once convinced Voldemort that his beloved was one of his own descendants. So he had taken many mistresses, but all his offspring perished, not one making it to maturity, forcing him to abandon the idea. This left only one possibility, that the person was an unknown descendant of Salazar Slytherin's bloodline and within his life, there is one place that he must go to- Hogwarts. And so, Voldemort became the DADA teacher. In the last twenty years, he had been searching within the school but had found nothing. Many students had black hair and green eyes but none of them looked like his beloved. The appearance of James Potter had made his heart speed up, apart from the eyes, James Potter greatly resembled him. However the Potters had no connection whatsoever with Salazar Slytherin. Voldemort could only despairingly return to this search. He couldn't deny that Harry Potter had never fallen within his search radius. Those laughable glasses made sure that Harry Potter appeared nothing like his beloved except for the color of his eyes and hair, Harry Potter's abominable grades and timid nature was also far different to the magically strong and confident person in Voldemort's memory.

Who would have thought that the most unlikely candidate was the best match. Voldemort didn't know whether he should thank Merlin for his good luck or curse himself for his own blindness.

There was finally a light at the end of the endless searching.

Next day at breakfast, a pretty barn owl flew to Harry and delivered a message.

_Harry Potter,_

_Come to my office after breakfast._

_V_

**8.**

The fine, watermarked parchment and the extravagant itself belonged to one person- Voldemort.

After last night, Harry knew that it would have been strange if Voldemort _didn't _search him out. What a wonderful potential death eater. Could he bluff his way through this?

This is the first time that Harry had been to Voldemort's office, all he could see were patches of silver and green. The green and silver lined walls were filled with portraits of Voldemort, each appearing graceful and elegant. The silver curtains were drawn and an unknown light source illuminated the room through the floor length windows, giving off a feeling of being bathed in sunlight. Of course, sunlight could not have reached the dungeons. A fire was roaring inside the silver fireplace and the edge of the fireplace was decorated with two twisting snakes in the shape of an S, the bodies of the snakes were set with emeralds and the ruby set eyes looked eerily beautiful. The floor was covered in silver pinewood with a green, wooden inlay of the word "Slytherin".

Voldemort's redwood desk was huge and empty. After from two neat stacks of student essays and a stone sculpture of Slytherin at the corner of the desk, there was only a golden inkwell and golden quill quietly resting on the obsidian pen stand.

Voldemort sat in the comfortable armchair behind the desk, long woolen robes hung on a black hanger in the corner of the room and the man himself was only wearing a snowy white shirt with an embroidered vest. He silently watched Harry with no expression on his handsome face.

[_Sit Harry._] He waved his wand and a short armchair appeared behind Harry.

Harry's thoughts crashed to a halt, had Voldemort spoken English or Parseltongue? He had originally intended to plead ignorance regardless of the questions but found that the reality was not so simple as he imagined. For example, he can't differentiate between English and Parseltongue. When he was still the Gryffindor Golden Boy, apart from several short skirmishes with Voldemort, no one was able to converse with him in Parseltongue and no one could tell him how to differentiate between the two. To him, both languages were the same. This was not an issue in the past but it was a problem now. When Voldemort speaks again, should he answer or not? If Voldemort was speaking Parseltongue, he could simply say that he couldn't answer because he didn't understand, but what if Voldemort was speaking English? If he didn't answer… he immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

He sat down uncertainly and started to worry about today's meeting.

[_Nagini tells me that your spellcasting is very smooth. This was a shock to me Harry Potter, your normal performance is not like that._] Voldemort spoke calmly.

Harry tried hard to listen, in the past it seemed that Parseltongue was accompanied by hissing sounds, just like the hissing of snakes. He recalled that from his past experiences. Perhaps because it has been so long since those experiences or perhaps because he was too worked up but he couldn't tell whether Voldemort's speech had accompanying hissing sounds. It seemed like there was but it also seemed like there wasn't. Oh Merlin, could someone please tell him whether he should answer?

[_Your explanation Potter?_] Voldemort pushed, [_I told you not to test my patience Potter, the consequences are not ones that you can bear._] His attempt at legilimency had failed, Harry Potter was obviously a master occlumens.

Swallowing with difficulty, Harry found himself in a quandary. Voldemort was warning him and he must make a response, he could not pretend that he didn't understand unless his wanted to risk expulsion. Voldemort had just won this round.

[_Yes professor, I admit that what Nagini said is the truth. But I don't want to make an explanation, whether I show my abilities is my own business._] Harry said resentfully.

An elated Voldemort had not even registered what Harry had said, even if he had, he would not have cared. What was a little cheek compared to a direct descendant of Slytherin! His heart and mind was completely filled with the joy over the fact that Harry Potter was a Parselmouth. He immediate made the decision that, regardless of whether Harry Potter was the one in his memory, he would keep him by his side, take care of him and guide him, teach Harry and outstanding wizard. It is his responsibility to what was perhaps the only descendant of his bloodline. And if Harry was the one, it would more reason not to let Harry leave his side.

[_Alright, you don't have to explain if you don't want to._] Voldemort was more interested in an answer to his other question, [_Potter, take off your glasses._]

[_Huh?_] Still bewildered and a little frightened by how easy going Voldemort seemed to be, Harry was completely confused by this latest request, before he recovered from his shock his glasses had discovered and everything in front of him became a blur.

Voldemort couldn't help standing and approaching Harry, painstakingly taking in every detail of the face he had not seen for five years, jet black, slender eyebrows, slightly arched, clear, innocent, emerald green eyes, a straight, strong nose, soft, pale pink lips, a perfect miniature of that person.

[_Smile._] He commanded.

[_I…_] Harry wanted to object.

[_I said smile!_] Voldemort grew impatient.

Alright, Harry shut up. Voldemort was behaving very strangely, he had better not antagonize him anymore, it was just a smile.

He squeezed out a not very willing smile.

But in Voldemort's eyes Harry's smile was very beautiful, bashful and shy, so like that person's smile. Perhaps because he is still a student, but Harry's features did not show the signs of the weariness present in that person's face, nor the determination and resilience in that person's eyes, Harry was still growing, waiting for someone to paint the first colors the blank canvas of his life.

He was now certain, Harry was the one, it has been twenty years but his waiting was over.

Returning swiftly to his seat, Voldemort returned Harry's glasses to him. When those unbearably ugly frames covered Harry's exquisite face once again, he could help but frown, he made that decision that he would take Harry to Diagon Alley to craft a new image. Of course, before that, he had to secure his new relationship with Harry.

**9.**

Voldemort waved his wand and a silver flask and two crystal goblets appeared out of thin air. The flask dipped to pour a honey colored liquid into both goblets before disappearing and one of the goblets floated to Harry.

"Rosmerta's finest oak aged mead." Voldemort said.

Harry hesitated, then took a sip, the taste was delicious.

"Harry, do you know of the special abilities of Salazar Slytherin?"

Harry nodded, wondering at why Voldemort was now using his first name and feeling a slight chill. "Yes Professor, he can talk to snakes."

"Very good." Voldemort continued, "Therefore his descendants, and only his descendants, can also speak to snakes." He paused, trying to see Harry's reaction. Disappointingly, Harry appeared to be completely unaffected, as though this had nothing to do with him. "Do you know what this means?"

"I don't think I have anything to do with Salazar Slytherin." Harry murmured.

"Oh? Why are you so certain?" Voldemort's brow lifted, Harry's certainty amused him.

"My surname is Potter and no Potter in the magical world had anything to do with Salazar Slytherin." Harry confidently replied.

Voldemort smiled. He thought Harry had some sort of definitive proof, instead it was just a simple denial.

"Yes, on your father's side there is no possibility of any relation to Salazar Slytherin. But you not only have a father, you have a mother."

"My mother was a muggleborn witch." Harry rebutted. There couldn't possibly be any "noble" Slytherin bloodline in a child born of a muggleborn.

Voldemort pursed his lips, then unwillingly admitted, "Any family has traitors and black sheep. In the Blacks, in the Gaunts…" He stopped in time, "Anyway, before you can clarify your mother's bloodline, the possibility exists."

Harry ground his teeth in anger, he hated that he had come to this time. While being in this time, he cannot honestly disclose his parents' names and family, he can only vaguely mention that they were a wizard and a muggleborn witch. And now, this vagueness has become the evidence to support and impossible theory.

"Even if, after further investigation, it was found that both your parents had no relation to Salazar Slytherin, the fact that you are a Parselmouth is in itself proof of the fact that you are a descendant of Slytherin." Voldemort continued to push Harry towards the edge of the precipice.

Harry could only secretly sneer. Nobody would believe his words, if he hadn't lived it even he wouldn't believe his own words. It looks like he can only temporarily accept the identity of a descendant of Salazar Slytherin which has been thrust upon him.

"Alright, let's say that I am a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, so what?"

"So what? So What?" Voldemort immediately stood in agitation, walking quickly to Harry, "That means that we are related by blood, I am your relative!"

"What are you trying to say Professor Voldemort?" Harry was mystified, he understood each word Voldemort said but put them all together and he had no idea what the words meant.

"It means that, I have the right to petition the Family Court to change your guardian ship." Voldemort smirked evilly, "And I intend to do just that."

10. (There is no chapter 10 in the text for some reason)


	3. Chapters 11 to 20

**11-15.**

"What?" Harry couldn't help but jump to his feet. The crystal goblet crashed to the ground and broke into pieces, spilling the mead everywhere.

"Change of guardianship? Change to whom?" Pale and agitated, he asked frantically, having lost the ability to think.

"To me of course, was there any doubt? I am your only relative in this world." Voldemort gave Harry a perfect smile, repaired Harry's goblet with a wave and handing him another goblet of mead.

After a slight hesitation, Harry accepted the goblet then finish the mead in one gulp. Shocked out of his wits with this explosive revelation, he needed the alcohol to calm his thoughts and buy a little time to think on this matter. But the question went way beyond his imagination and he asked another stupid question, "Just what are you thinking anyway, I'm doing well as I am."

Voldemort determinedly interrupted Harry, "I do not think you are doing well at all! You have great strength but try desperately to hide it, you have immeasurably noble blood in you veins but you only think to consort with filthy muggles. As your only blood relation, I cannot stand for this! I must correct your course myself, guide you, and help you become a great wizard so that everyone can worship at your feet!" He would make Harry into the majestic figure of his memory, to stand forever at this side.

Have everyone worship at my feet? Does that include you Voldemort? Getting more and more enraged, it got so that Harry wanted to hurl the goblet at Voldemort's head. He controlled himself and set the goblet careful down on the desk.

Then he walked up to Voldemort, lifted his head to stare directly at this powerful man, completely disregarding the sharp pain in his forehead, and told him slowly, one word at a time, "Mr. Voldemort, I hope you can understand, my life will be decided by me, Harry Potter. I like my peaceful life, I like muggles, so my goal is to become an employee of the Muggle Liaisons Office, so that I will be able to interact with muggles all my life. I don't need anyone to direct my life, even you."

A crushing pressure smashed into Voldemort, forcing him to take several steps back to be able to breathe properly. He stared at Harry in shock, unable to believe that a fifteen year old student could give out such a strong sense of oppression, even able to affect him in his unprepared state. This strength of will is only slightly inferior to his own. For a moment the image of this Harry and the Harry of his memory overlapped. The power, majesty and confidence unknowingly projected, the determination and forthrightness, wasn't that one of the reasons he had fallen deeper and deeper in love in the last twenty years?

But, how did this child do it? Who is helping him in secret? Dumbledore? Possible, otherwise why does the old coot constantly get in his way. Maybe he attained this himself? More and more he was finding Harry to be an enigma, and more and more, he was excited. Fifteen year old Harry is already equipped to stand at his side and rule the world, no matter what, he must have Harry, nobody can stop him, not even Dumbledore.

"Well well Harry." Voldemort returned to his seat, "No need to get excited, we can talk about this."

"I don't think there is anything more to talk about." Harry said stiffly.

Voldemort smiled sincerely and smoothly continued, "Communication is vital in everything, if I have been mistaken then I apologize." He poured a third glass for Harry. "Come, come, sit."

Harry guardedly sat on the edge of his chair.

"I must say Harry, you surprised me." Voldemort quickly changed tactics, "This is the first time I have seen a Slytherin this fond of muggles."

"The sorting hat wanted to put me in Gryffindor." Harry said coldly.

"But in the end it put you in Slytherin." Luckily that blasted hat hadn't made the wrong choice, otherwise he would have torn it apart, he thought.

Harry snorted, if it wasn't for Snape, he would have gone to Ravenclaw.

"So Harry, it is quite right to have a goal in life, but don't you think you're setting your sights a little low?" Learning from prior experience, Voldemort was careful in choosing his words.

Even so, Harry's eyes narrowed, looking quite like an irritated kitten, "I don't think so, only someone interfering with my business would think so."

"I am not interfering, I am about to become your guardian." Voldemort tried hard to sooth the little kitten.

"It doesn't matter if you're my guardian, I am not going to change my thoughts." Harry stubbornly repeated.

Just as he remembered, an incurable muggle-lover. Voldemort sighed deeply, why did he have to fall in love with someone whose ideals differed so much from his own? Was he a masochist!

"Alright, alright, you are right. No matter who I am to you, I should respect your goals in life and your ideals. I was wrong, I apologize." Voldemort waved a metaphorical white flag in surrender.

"Okay, apology accepted." Harry was not cheered by Voldemort's apology, he only grudgingly accepted it. "Uhm… do you have to apply for my guardianship/"

Voldemort's eyes widened, "Of course. I couldn't possibly leave my only relative in an orphanage!"

"Can you investigate further? Maybe I'm really not related to you, maybe it's a coincidence that I know parseltongue…" Harry painstakingly tried to convince Voldemort to give up.

But Voldemort was resolute, "It can't be a coincidence."

Harry finally lost his temper. "Must you control my life!"

"Not control, take care of." Voldemort corrected Harry.

Harry couldn't stop himself anymore, he stood abruptly and bit out, "I don't care if it's control or take care of, I WON'T HAVE IT!"

When his finished, he rushed angrily towards the door, after it swung open, Nagini slithered happily inside and cheerfully greeted him, [_Are you well Harry?_]

[_Not at all!_]

Bang!

The loud slamming of the door made both man and snake flinch.

[_What did you do? He's even angrier than he was last night._]

[_I didn't do anything, I just told him that I would take good care of him._]

Harry's rage had not dissipated by the time he arrived in the Charms classroom, they were practicing the _Silencio_ charm today and the room was filled with the croaking of frogs and the cawing of crows. He sat down next to Snape and grabbed a frog at random.

"You don't look so good. Did Professor Voldemort scold you?" Snape was very worried about his friend.

The croaking of the frog annoyed Harry and with a jab of his wand, without even intoning the charm out loud, the frog was silenced. Snape was well accustomed to Harry's well-practiced spell work and was not surprised.

"Does the magical world have a Family Court?" This was the first time Harry had heard the term.

"Yes." Snape's reply was definite, "It takes care of all matters pertaining to families. What's the matter?" He asked in a low voice.

Harry debated whether to tell him, in four years Harry had not told Snape that he was a Parselmouth, he was afraid that Snape would be angry at him.

Snape rolled his eyes, "Tell me, I won't get mad. From first year to now, the trouble you have gotten me into has made me wish I was dead more than twenty times, when have I ever gotten angry at you?"

Harry though back and realized that this was in fact the case. So he took the plunge and related all the events and details from last night to just a while ago to Snape.

Snape was obviously perplexed by all the complicated matters and vacantly tried to digest all that Harry had told him while practicing the _Silencio_ charm. "You're a Parselmouth?"

"Yes. I don't like it so I never told you…"

"It's a good thing in Slytherin, but that's not the point. Nagini learned this fact."

"Yes."

"And then told Professor Voldemort."

"Yes."

"And Professor Voldemort is convinced that you are a descendant of Salazar Slytherin."

"He's definitely wrong!" Harry complained.

Snape shook his head slowly. "I don't think the Professor is wrong. Only descendants of Salazar Slytherin can talk to snakes, this is a known fact in the magical world. Unless you have definitive proof that you are not related to Salazar Slytherin," he slanted a glance at Harry, "Do you have proof?"

Harry shook his head despondently.

Snape continued to organize the facts. "Finally, Professor Voldemort told you that he will apply for your guardianship."

"That's right. Do you think he'll get it." Harry asked urgently.

"The possibility is 99.9999%... it is inordinately close to 100%." Snape concluded.

"Why?" Harry couldn't understand, couldn't accept this conclusion.

"Simple." Because you're a Parselmouth, the court is naturally going to conclude that you are a descendant of Salazar Slytherin- don't despair, I told you that this is a good thing for a Slytherin! -That is to say, you and Professor Voldemort are related, and Professor Voldemort is rich and powerful, on the other hand is a struggling orphanage, wary of the magical world. It will be obvious to the court which side would be more beneficial to your growth and development."

Harry's head sagged, sparkling green eyes filled with misery, looking like it was the end of the world.

Snape couldn't bear to see his friend like that and tried to comfort him, "Well, theoretically, the petition could fail."

Harry glared at Snape, venting his wrath at the frog, transfiguring it into a willow cup carved with a nature scene.

"You know it's impossible. The head of the orphanage would be happy to see the back of me, and I can't sneak out of Hogwarts to the muggle world and _Imperio_ him."

"As I said… theoretically…" Snape slid a little further to the side.

The willow cup shuddered, then ran across the table, falling to the floor and breaking into pieces. Beyond caring, Harry moaned as he sprawled over the table as he cursed fate. Voldemort was about to become Harry's guardian, could there be anything more ridiculous than that?

At dinner time, a long eared owl flew over the Slytherin table and delivered a politely worded and sincere letter to Harry.

_Dear Mr. Harry James Potter,_

_According to the application of Mr. Voldemort, a hearing on your guardianship will be held in the Family Court of the Ministry of Magic at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, you are obliged to attend._

_Sincerely,_

_Paul Freely_

_Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

Harry and Snape stared at each other blankly.

That was quick!

"Goddamn Voldemort!" Harry cursed in a low voice and tossed a resentful glance at the Head table, where Voldemort was elegantly consuming his meal, he only received a small, smug smile in return.

"I can understand how you feel, after all you don't like Professor Voldemort. So you better curse as much as you want now, after today you're going to have to be careful." Snape sighed and cut his steak into smaller pieces.

That night, Harry went to the Room of Requirements, when he left the room, although he was still unhappy, as least he wasn't seething with rage.

The next day, after DADA class, Voldemort asked Harry to stay behind, "Harry, I have already informed Headmaster Dumbledore that you are to be excused from classes this afternoon, you will be going to the Ministry of Magic with me. I will wait for you in the Slytherin common room at the appointed time."

"No. You can wait for me at the entrance at 2:30." Harry coldly rejected Voldemort's decision then walked away without a backward glance.

Really, Voldemort shook his head with a grimace, this child really hated being with him.

At 2:30 in the afternoon, Harry went to the entrance of Hogwarts, Voldemort was waiting there for him. The man was leaning elegantly on the side of the gate, wearing black velvet robes and a black satin cloak, his curly black hair neatly styled and his handsome face filled with vitality.

Under the dull grey London sky, the man was especially dazzling.

Harry couldn't help but narrow his eyes, it was only a court appearance but the man was dressed like he was going on a date.

"Good afternoon Harry." Spotting Harry from a distance, Voldemort gave a brilliant smile.

"… Good afternoon." Harry replied reluctantly.

Voldemort disregarded the boy's reluctant expression and hugged him tightly, "We are going to apparate to the Ministry, it will be faster. Hold on to me." He ordered.

The familiar feeling of being squeezed through a tube hit him. Harry frowned and faced the golden statue in the fountain of the entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic while fighting nausea. Voldemort concernedly and softly patted his back, trying to soothe his discomfort. In only moments of close contact, Voldemort could already feel how thin and slight Harry was. Before, he had though that Harry was short, it was only after holding him in his arms that he realized that the fifteen year old's head barely reached his waist, the fragile body seemed like it would snap with a touch, there was obvious malnutrition in the past fifteen year, which is why the reaction to the apparition was so severe. Damnit, he had grown up in an orphanage, how could he not have realized that the food was so scarce?

"Honored Master, I have some chocolate that may soothe the discomfort of this young sir." A middle aged man came towards them, soft white hair smooth as lambswool, a scraggly white beard barely covering his chin. In his hand were a large number of beautifully wrapped chocolates.

Voldemort choose the biggest piece, swiftly unwrapping it, then holding it against Harry's lips, softly he coaxed, "Harry, darling, eat a little bit, you'll feel better."

Weak from vomiting, Harry turned his head, the chocolate was right against his mouth and the scent was so sweet and tempting, he couldn't help taking a bite. The silky smooth flavor spread over his tongue, immediately warming his body.

Voldemort's attention had not strayed from Harry and he instantly noticed the first sign of Harry's color returning, a faint blush appearing on the small, pale face, happily taking the remaining chocolates, he unwrapped and fed them to Harry one at a time.

Too worn out to resist Voldemort's ministrations, Harry concentrated on recovering. After eating more two chocolates, Harry felt strength return to his body, shaking his head, he wearily said, "I'm feeling better."

"Eat a little more, you're still weak." Voldemort fed him another piece of chocolate regardless of his comments, under his gentle gaze Harry voluntarily swallowed the chocolate.

"You did well." While feeding Harry gently, Voldemort turned an imperious yet approving look at his follower, "What is your wish?"

The man kneeled on one knee, bowed deeply and respectfully answered, "All powerful Master, I have no wishes, I only wish for the health of the young sir."

Voldemort gave a slight smile and after Harry firmly refused to eat anymore, put the remaining chocolates in Harry's pocket. "I know you, Igor Karkaroff. I know what you desire, your wish will be granted after Yule."

The man was overjoyed and almost prostrated himself, voice trembling, "Thank you Master, I will be your most loyal servant."

Voldemort rose to his feet as regal as a king, helped Harry to stand then strolled away without another glance at the man on the ground. Harry turned to look at the man after a while to find that he had not gotten back to his feet.

Harry's impression of the entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic was that it was the noisiest place inside the Ministry, the fountain in the middle of the hall constantly tinkled and splashed and the popping of apparating wizards also contributed to the din in the hall. But today, the hall seemed abnormally quiet, not only were there no pops, even the fountain seemed to have been _Silencio_-ed. The people parted automatically in the middle, clearing a path for Voldemort and Harry, some of them were frightened, some filled with hatred and a significant portion of them took off their pointy hats and bowed low as Voldemort passed.

The security check was mandatory but the hands of the security wizard kept shaking.

In truth, Voldemort did not feel that Harry needed to go through these silly checks, it only due to the desire to find out about Harry's wand, to prepare for tomorrow's shopping expedition that he submitted to them. When Harry took out the wand that had been in use for who knows how many decades, Voldemort silently added another item to the shopping list for tomorrow.

The security wizard did not ask to inspect Voldemort's wand, Harry thought that Dumbledore probably also enjoyed this privilege.

Harry had experienced court proceedings before, or more accurately, he had been tried before, it was a very, very old memory. A dark, gloomy room, jurors peopled with those with their own agendas, a devious Fudge, an idiotic Percy Weasley, a despicable Umbridge, and… Dumbledore.

But this court proceeding was completely different to the last time. A small room on the second level of the Ministry, large stretches of warmly colored walls, a round crystal chandelier lighting up the whole room. Ten kind looking jurors, appearing to be loving and filled with compassion. Harry had no doubt that at least half of the jurors were looking at Voldemort ingratiatingly.

This so called court proceeding was just a show, thought Harry.

The proceedings proved Harry's supposition to be correct.

In the beginning, two investigators jabbered away, one reading the results of the investigation on the Bole Orphanage, which of course was unsuitable for a young wizard to live at: poor food, quarters, sanitation, and most importantly, the entire orphanage, from top to bottom was resentful and terrified of wizards, the way he spoke, it was like it was purely due to Harry's luck that he had yet to be burned at the stake there. Another read the results of the investigation on Voldemort: rich, influential, hale and strong, successful, and sincere, it was as though not granting Voldemort Harry's guardianship would be abusive and unjust.

Afterwards was Voldemort's performance, he expressed his affection for Harry with an impassioned speech, stating his delight at finding another descendant of Salazar Slytherin, he also made various assurances, such as that harry would have a prosperous and august life, his speech made all the old men and women nod repeatedly with teary eyes.

After two hours, it was time for Harry to take the stand, but after less than half a minute, when he only had time to say [_What?_], everything was settled.

Immediately upon hearing Harry speak parseltongue, the jurors shuddered, then sagged in relief, the old men finally had the presence of mind to mop up their sweat with handkerchiefs.

The next second a kind, portly middle-aged lady announced, "All in favor of granting Mr. Voldemort guardianship of Mr. Harry James Potter as his uncle, raise your hands."

Wosh!

Ten arms raised high, almost like a little forest.

"It is hereby decreed by this court, that the change of guardianship of Mr. Harry James Potter, submitted by Mr. Voldemort- is approved." After this statement the lady smiled fawningly at Voldemort, "Mr. Voldemort, please proceed to the scribe to sign the change of guardianship papers."

After Voldemort signed, a copy was kept to be filed by the Family Court and another copy was given to Voldemort.

"Very good Harry, from now on I am your guardian." Voldemort did not bother to hide his elation.

Harry glanced at him coldly, "Don't even think about trying to control my life or I'll make you regret it."

"I will not control your life, we already have an agreement." Voldemort assured him, then added in his mind: I'll only be changing your life a little.

Walking out of the court, a small man with a camera took a barrage of pictures of them both, giving off a cloud of smoke.

Voldemort lifted his wand without pause and turned the camera into a pile of junk.

The photographer slid to the ground, shuddered and begged, "Mr. Vol-voldemort, I didn't know I was not allowed to take pictures."

"It's not that you are not allowed, but that it is not appropriate to take pictures of Harry today. As my nephew, he must be perfect." Voldemort lowered his head and looked at Harry's outfit as though it was trash.

The photographer quickly realized his mistake, Voldemort did not think that Harry's current image was suitable for being Voldemort's heir. This worry was quite correct, if there were photos showing the Dark Lord's heir wearing rages like someone impoverished, the Death Eaters would strenuously object.

Harry wanted to roll his eyes, he was quite fine with how he was dressed.

When the two returned to the castle, it was already dinner time. Because it was Halloween, the atmosphere in the hall was quite festive and the students were having energetic discussions, the appearance of the two plunged the Great Hall into an eerie silence and the students began muttering to each other.

Dumbledore, dressed in pale orange robes, was delighted to see them and happily asked, "Dear Professor Voldemort, were the guardianship proceedings concluded satisfactorily?"

Voldemort mockingly bowed deeply, "Honorable Headmaster, thank you for your kind words, I have obtained guardianship of Harry as his uncle."

Dumbledore seemed even happier, pulling on his long auburn beard, "Very good, very good. Mr. Potter is an excellent student, smart, kind, talented, under your tutelage I'm sure he will become an excellent wizard."

"Once again, thank you for your kind words Headmaster." The corner of Voldemort's mouth lifted in a disparaging sneer.

The students at the other long tables were stunned by the news that Harry Potter was Voldemort's nephew, Lucius had already instructed the Slytherin students to clear a space suitable for the highest and third ranked students in Slytherin House at the head of the table on the left hand side, Lucius himself sat at the first seat on the right hand side, indicative of his position as the second highest ranked student in Slytherin. Voldemort nodded in approval and lead Harry to the first seat at the head of the table. Snape sat down to Harry's left, in the third ranked position.

After Voldemort returned to the head table, the interrupted dinner resumed. However, students from four houses as well as most of the teachers kept sneaking glances at Harry. The Slytherin table was filled with envy and fear and the other gazes included uncertainty, loathing and enmity, of course, there was also envy and respect.

"Professor Voldemort's nephew? Voldemort's heir? What an exulted position." James sneered scornfully.

"I knew it, there are no good Slytherins." Sirius followed, he gaze turning to an expressionless Lily.

"So what should we do? Harry Potter's status has changed, are we going to stop fighting with him and Snape?" Peter's squinty eyes were watery, as though he would break out in tear at any moment.

Sirius shouted, "Shut up you coward! If you're afraid, go to Slytherin and lick Harry Potter's boots."

Pettigrew's face immediately flushed and he mumbled, "That's not what I meant, Sirius…"

"Alright." James impatiently interrupted his explanation, "Gryffindor is the symbol of courage and bravery Pettigrew, you remember that."

"Yes James." Pettigrew lowered his face.

"So, now you're Professor Voldemort's nephew?" Snape cautiously asked his best friend. Compared to the despair of yesterday, Harry's calm of today was terrifying.

Harry calmly agreed, "Yes, I am."

"So… so, that's good, you're okay right?" Snape asked frankly, it seems like beating around the bush would only cause Harry to feign ignorance.

Harry mockingly quirked his lips, was he allowed to be not okay? "If I'm suffering so much that I can't eat and can't sleep, how much of a chance do you think I have of overturning this ruling?"

Not waiting for Snape to answer, Harry provided the answer himself, "Zero. Everything was already decided before I got there, all I can do is accept it." He shrugged, "So you see, resistance is futile anyway."

Snape opened his mouth but found that there was nothing he could say, it was a fait accompli, with the situation as it is, he can only go with the flow and take each day as it comes. The only consolation is that he is already fifteen and he will be considered an adult in the magical world when he reached seventeen years of age.

After dinner, Voldemort led Harry to the Slytherin common room with an arm around his shoulders. Harry was not used to such close physical contact but Voldemort seemed to have become addicted to hugging Harry, from the time they entered the Ministry, whenever Harry was with him, he automatically put his arm around Harry's shoulders. After several fruitless struggles, Harry let it be.

The Slytherin common room is vastly different from the Gryffindor common room, the Gryffindor common room sofas were placed randomly and students could sit anywhere, the Slytherin common room sofas were placed as though in an audience room, gathering around a throne.

Voldemort placed Harry at the most prestigious seat and announced, "Harry James Potter is my nephew, my only living relative. I hope that he will be well respected in this house." This was not a request, it was an order.

All the Slytherin students, led by Lucius and regardless of their ranking, knelt on one knee in front of Harry Potter, lowering their usually highly held heads, despite not knowing why in only one night, Harry had become Voldemort's nephew. They only needed to follow Voldemort's directions and abide by his decisions, they did not need to query their master.

"Of course, honored master, your wish is our command."

Mouth twitching uncontrollably, Harry wanted to bury his face in his hands and sigh, regardless of whether he was placed in Slytherin house, at heart he is a Gryffindor, he can't imagine having to face this scene repeatedly in the next decades. But perhaps it was this extreme display of power which attracted countless ambitious, high ranked people.

Before he left, Voldemort instructed Harry to finish his late night snack, "You're too thin, not at all like a fifteen year old boy. The house elves will make sure you finish your snack."

Perhaps it was because he had eaten so much the night before, but Harry for once over slept the next morning.

Snape, while withdrawn and unsociable by nature, was very gentle and tender to his friends, he did not wake Harry because he though yesterday's events had exhausted him. So he quickly ate his fill then brought a bountiful breakfast to Harry. After all, today was Sunday and there were no classes.

After sleeping his fill, Harry slowly sat up then habitually reached for his glasses to find them gone. Turning to look, he found that his bedside cabinet was completely empty. He rushed off the bed to dig around, Snape hurrying to help, along with their other three roommates. The results were shocking, not only Harry's glasses, but his clothes, stationery, the wizards chess set he got last year, his trunk, even his wand, and- Hedwig's cage, they were all missing!

Whose prank was this?

Harry and Snape stared at each other and the other three boys were sweating profusely, swearing that they had nothing to do with this. Harry knew that they didn't have the guts to do something like this. So who could it be? Those Gryffindors don't have the password to Slytherin.

As Harry was wracking his brain trying to find out who did this, a snowy owl flew in via the window with a big parcel attached to her leg.

"Hedwig!" Harry immediately hugged the owl, almost weeping with joy, "I'm so glad you're alright. I almost thought I'd lost you too!"

Hedwig was obviously not very pleased with Harry's enthusiastic hug, her little claws were a little stiff, but she quietly endured her master's embrace so that his fear may be alleviated. When Harry released her, she lightly nipped his fingers then turned huge amber eyes to the parcel.

Harry picked up an owl treat that the unknown thieve had kindly left behind and fed it to Hedwig, she affectionately nipped Harry's fingers again then flew away.

**16-20.**

It was a square shaped paper box wrapped in expensive satin, a letter from Voldemort was attached to the box with ribbon.

_Dear Harry,_

_Please come to the common room once you finish your preparations, I will be waiting for you._

_V_

Inside the paper box was another two boxes, in the smaller of the two were two potions, "Eyesight Potion"- "Potion for the remedy of faulty eyesight, for consumption." Snape explained. And "Madam Spurn's All Purpose Scar Remover"- "For topical application." Snape smiled. In the larger box was a full set of clothing, from soft, comfortable white cotton underpants to a shirt in pale blue silk to long woolen robes in striking ocean blue, the collars and cuffs of each were embroidered with palm width silver waves, finally, to a pair of black dragonhide boots with silver embroidery.

"Damnit!" Fists thumped heavily against the bedposts, "I should have known, no one but him would do something so obnoxious!" Ignoring the totally blurred world in front of him, he rushed out the door.

Snape sighed then followed him with the Eyesight Potion in hand.

Harry rushed to the head of the stairs and saw Voldemort lounging by the fire place. Strictly speaking, he could not see Voldemort but just a blurry Nagini, but it was a given that no one but Voldemort could sit next to Nagini.

"You… you…How could you… You dare…Oh!"

Incoherent with rage he lost his footing and fell off the spiral staircase. Wrapping his arms around his head to try to minimize the damage, he braced himself for the pain to come. Surprisingly the pain did not come, carefully opening his eyes he found himself sitting safely in the sofa next to Voldemort.

Voldemort irately berated him, "Didn't I give you the Eyesight Potion, why didn't you use it? Rushing down here so carelessly, if it wasn't for my quick reflexes you would have tumbled right to the ground."

Harry's cat-like eyes were wide with rage and glaring angrily at the man who was still dressed like he was going on a date, the common room immediately filled with the quiet sounds of indrawn breaths.

"This is all your fault! Give me back my glasses! And my clothes! And my wand!" How dare Voldemort take away all his possessions without his consent. Completely disregarding his existence!

"Um…" Voldemort was genuinely puzzled, then he realized, "You mean the pile of junk taken away by the house elves?"

"Choose your words carefully, those were my possessions!"

"It is you who should choose your words carefully Harry, I am your guardian." Voldemort's expression grew severe.

Harry glared at him but Voldemort returned Harry's gaze unflinchingly. After a while, Harry looked away, he wanted desperately to know what had happened to this possessions. "I apologize Professor Voldemort."

"Call me Voldy."

"Alright, V-voldy." Harry cleared his throat, trying to say this new name clearly through his rash of goosebumps, "Where are my possessions?"

"I burned them." Voldemort said as though he had burned a pile of logs.

Jumping up like a furious lion, Harry yelled at Voldemort, "You wanker!"

[_Harry, you should not be so rude, Voldy is your guardian._] Nagini hurriedly slithered between the two.

[_Screw this guardian thing! How could he humiliate me like this?_] Harry tried but could not get past Nagini, once again he was filled with rage at the fact that Voldemort had torched his wand.

Snape came to an abrupt stop, knowing was one thing and actually seeing was another. Instead of the usual English, the sounds coming from his best friend's mouth were sinister hissing, making him feel afraid, as though he was standing in front of Voldemort.

Even though he couldn't clearly see the person who had come down the stairs, Harry knew Snape's gait. He squinted to try and see better, "Severus?"

Seeing his friend's trusting gaze made Snape forget his fears and walk up to Harry. After greeting Voldemort he passed the Eyesight Potion to Harry, "Drink it Harry."

"No! I want my glasses!" Fuming, Harry pushed away Snape's hand.

Voldemort gave a low chuckle, "Harry, Harry, it is my right and responsibility to give you the finest in life, I am allowing you to continue with your goals," This statement stopped Harry's argument in its tracks, "You must compromise as well, why not just enjoy my spoiling you?"

Snape whispered his own persuasions in Harry's ear, "Professor Voldemort IS your guardian."

After a few minutes Harry surrendered with resignation. He drank the potion then returned to his rooms for his morning ablutions. Without a wand, stationery and other school supplies, without clothes, he could not go to class, nor could he run around clad only in pajamas. Not to say, if he really annoyed Voldemort, he could transfer him to some other magical school and he wouldn't even be able to lodge any complaints.

Both the clothes and the boots were carefully chosen and fit perfectly. The All Purpose Scar Remover Harry tossed right out the window.

When harry reappeared at the head of the stairs, green flames ignited in the eyes of every male and female in the Slytherin common room.

Even though his messy hair detracted somewhat from the overall picture, when ones beauty could compare to that of a Veela, such detraction becomes irrelevant. He was so exquisite that the strange scar on his forehead complemented his beauty. Even Lucius, whose taste and sense of aesthetics was honed to perfection by Malfoy breeding, had an urge to break off his engagement to Narcissa and pursue Harry instead. But this was just an urge, Voldemort's speedy rescue forty-five minutes ago had already indicated a vague intimacy.

Voldemort was very satisfied, although slightly displeased that Harry had not removed the scar, he was aware that he should not push Harry too far. He arrogantly wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders in a proprietary manner, "Let us go Harry, we have a very busy day ahead of us."

Following the departure of the two men and the snake, voices broke out in the Slytherin common room, the topic of discussion was of course Harry's astonishing beauty.

Of course, a minority voiced differing opinions, "Don't you think he looks a bit like a woman?"

"He is so much more beautiful than that person! Oh, he is so alluring!" a girl said with flushed cheeks.

Harry coldly glanced at the hand that Voldemort refused take off his shoulder, even after they get on the carriage, pushing down the urge to slap that hand off his shoulder, he grumbled, "What sort of clothes do you want to buy?"

Voldemort did not even need to think about it, "Something elegant, graceful, luxurious…" Seeing Harry's expression getting colder and colder, he unwillingly appended, "Muggle clothing as well, naturally, you like those."

Harry's expression softened. "Then can we go to muggle London first?"

"No, we can't." Seeing Harry's face fill with anger, Voldemort hurriedly explained, "There's a clothing shop in Diagon Alley that specializes in muggle clothing."

At that Harry looked away and silently stared out the window. He didn't really care about the quality of his clothes, he just didn't want to become Voldemort's puppet. Voldemort must understand that he means what he says.

When the carriage reached the gate of the castle, Harry alighted and found to his surprise that there were two house elves standing at the gate, both were clad in tea towels with the Hogwarts crest. "You…?"

"We is to be carrying things for Mr. Voldemort and Mr. Potter sir." The house elves said together.

Oh, right. How pretentious, he won't even carry his own bags.

After apparating, the procession walked into Diagon Alley. As was in the entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic, somehow the crowd parted in front of them, leaving enough room that the two of them could roll down the Alley without hitting anyone.

Harry was a little disheartened when he noticed that people were looking at him the same way as they looked at Voldemort.

Voldemort on the other hand, paid no attention to the actions of the crowd as he led Harry to Jesse's Magical Salon. The stylist, Jesse, fawned over them. Very quickly, the fawning turned into panic and sweat began to roll down his back. No matter what spells or charms he used, sections of Harry's hair persisted in flying every which way, not tamed in the least. Having no other choice and suffering under Voldemort almost murderous glare, he had to use alternative methods and had to use barrettes to hold down the unruly hair. Voldemort was not entirely happy that Jesse had to resort to muggle methods, but Harry's neat and appealing hair style still won a smile from him.

So that Harry could maintain this neatness in the future, Voldemort unwillingly purchased more than a hundred barrettes. And then it was Harry's turn to fret over what he was going to do tomorrow when he didn't know how to use the barrettes, a relieved Jesse informed him that these barrettes were a new product and would be able to put themselves up in the best positions.

After handling Harry's bird's nest, Voldemort's next stop was the robes shops—all the robes shops in Diagon Alley.

This effort took a long time, but Harry was not too tired. Upon reaching each store, the proprietor would take his measurements, the house elves would assist him in changing and Voldemort would occasionally force feed him some Pepper Up. After trying on ten or so outfits, he could take a rest and wait, sipping the orange juice brought by the shop assistants, while Voldemort decided which things to purchase (Harry though it would be better if he did not argue over this with the acknowledged height of fashion of the magical world), looked over the catalogs to point out which outfits should be finished as soon as possible, finally, he would then request that the proprietor add catalogs for adolescent fashion to those that were regularly owled to him. Harry felt that the entire process was probably more exhausting for Voldemort.

After buying tens of outfits for magical high society, Voldemort unenthusiastically took Harry to a very small store, the robes and clothing in this store were obviously of a lower quality than the previous stores. "Some muggle clothing." He demanded.

The owner rushed to bring tens of items, there were sweaters, exercise wear, jeans, even a pair of sneakers or two, not very fashion oriented, Harry picked out a couple of outfits randomly. "Ok, let's go."

Harry's speedy choice made a relieved Voldemort let out a sigh, throwing the items to the house elves, he took Harry's hand and led him rapidly out the store.

Harry tallied the items in his head, already gotten underpants, shorts, shirts, pants, vests, jackets, robes, hats, ties, cuff links, handkerchiefs, gloves and socks, all that was left was shoes.

Pierce's Shoe Store was the largest in Diagon Alley, the interior was lavishly decorated and all the customers were clad in high class silk or satin robes.

Harry sat on the chair and the owner himself helped him try on various pairs of shoes, after trying on ten pairs or so, Voldemort thought it was sufficient and went to talk with the owner, with nothing else to do Harry browsed around the shop. He saw a pair of silver embroidered, black dragonhide boots in the store window and was sure that it was the same as the pair he had on. He went over to look at the price of the boots and almost fell over.

5000 galleons!

For a pair of boots!

Merlin!

Harry doesn't even want to try to imagine how much today's shopping expedition had cost, nor did he want to think about the values of the items in the bags being carried by the house elves, so this is what was meant when they say "spending money like water".

By the time the clothes shopping was finished, it was almost noon. Voldemort took Harry to the "Eternal" beauty salon and Harry adamantly refused Voldemort's suggestion that they bathe together, getting into a room by himself instead.

The massage bath tub alleviated most of Harry fatigue and the massage give by a pretty girl made Harry feel both flushed and refreshed and the facial performed by the owner left Harry's delicate skin even more translucent, as though it was exuding a slight silvery sheen.

Then Voldemort purchased the whole range of premium skin care products.

At noon, Harry and Voldemort went to Hogsmeade to have lunch, then they went to Honeydukes to stock up on candy. And it was truly stocking up, all the candy (that Harry was interested in) was bought out. Harry instinctively started to calculate how long it would take he and Snape to demolish all this candy and concluded that aiming to finish the candy before the Christmas holidays may be slightly over ambitious.

In the afternoon they returned to Diagon Alley.

Voldemort walked into a furniture store and looked interestedly at a full length mirror. The mirror boasted that it had the best fashion sense in the magical world, better even than the Malfoys, Harry scoffed.

Voldemort seemed very interested and after a lengthy discussion with the mirror, was satisfied and decided to buy it. "It's a perfect fashion consultant."

Afterwards, Voldemort also bought a huge walk-in closet, a bedside cabinet and a book case.

Harry had no comments on the bedside cabinet, he was used to leaving a glass of water at the head of his bed, but he had strong opinions on the closet and book case. "It won't fit in the dorm room."

"Yes it will." Voldemort answered distractedly. Even though he could not arrange for a private room for Harry unless Dumbledore rescinded Lucius' prefect position, it would be easy to create a room suitable for Harry.

"I already have a bed." Harry noticed that Voldemort seemed quite partial to a decadent bed that could accommodate eight people, and hurriedly interjected.

"You won't have one tonight." Voldemort directed the house elves to take the bed away.

The owner was ecstatic, several of their most expensive items have been sold.

Having replaced all of Harry general belongings Voldemort turned to replacing Harry's school and recreational supplies.

First was school supplies, Voldemort purchased a new telescope, scales, quills, inkwell, shears and potion supplies as well as a new gold bird cage for Hedwig. Harry wasn't sure that Hedwig would like the cage.

"So, after we buy a new wand, we can go to a café for a break, then we can go and buy some toys and games suitable for young men." Voldemort said after looking at his pocket watch.

A wand! Harry's heart froze, he still remembered what Ollivander had said so long ago as though it had happed yesterday, he didn't think that he would be lucky enough to find another wand this time. He didn't want to go, but he couldn't not go, Voldemort would never allow him to use a secondhand wand.

Ollivander's shop was as gloomy as always and Ollivander's eyes were just as white. He softly greeted Voldemort but seemed very surprised when he heard that Harry was Voldemort's nephew. What sort of child would be worthy of the acknowledgment of a wizard such as Voldemort?

Same as the last time, Harry was a tricky customer. But the more tricky he was, the happier Voldemort and Ollivander were. Even though boxes of wands were piled almost as high as the ceiling, Ollivander was not the least bit discouraged.

After wracking his brain, his gaze slowly swung between Harry and Voldemort, then he had an idea. "Why not? Why not hey? This is a brilliant idea!"

He climbed to the top of the shelf and took out an old wooden box, "Come, try it. Eleven inches, holly, phoenix feather, every supple."

Harry swallowed with difficulty, took the wand and immediately, red sparks shot out of the tip, illuminating the gloomy store.

Voldemort happily hugged Harry's waist, "Wonderful Harry, this wand suits you."

"Oh yes. It's not just the wizard that chooses the wand, the wand also chooses the wizard. How fascinating." Ollivander mumbled in amazement.

Harry wanted to drag Voldemort out the store so that he wouldn't be able to hear Ollivander's words, but Voldemort seemed very interested in hearing the rest of what Ollivander had to say.

Ollivander's moon bright eyes looked right into Voldemort's own, "Mr. Voldemort, I remember that the same phoenix gave two feathers for two wands, one was thirteen and a half inch, yew, yes, your wand Mr. Voldemort, the other wand is the one in Mr. Potter's hand." He turned to Harry, "You will do great things Mr. Potter. Just like your uncle."

Leaving Ollivander's shop, Voldemort embraced Harry tightly, overwhelmed with exhilaration. He believed more and more that Harry and he meeting was ordained by Merlin, they were fated to be together.

As per Voldemort's plans, they went to a café to rest. Voldemort added milk and sugar for Harry but drank his own coffee black. Bright sunlight shone through the wide windows of the café, highlighting the satisfaction and affection on the man's handsome face. Harry started to feel self-conscious under the man's gentle regard.

Can a blood relation really make that much difference? Harry wondered.

The relished rest however was interrupted by an unwelcome intruder. Harry glowered at the photographer, coming to take the photos that he missed out on yesterday.

Nervously shuffling closer and trying not to meet Harry's murderous gaze, he gave a fawning bow then said in the honey-sweet voice, "Mr. Voldemort, will you allow this lowly one the honor of taking photos of you and your nephew today? If Monday's edition of the "Daily Prophet" could feature a photo of you and your nephew it is bound to be very popular."

Not waiting for Harry to answer "No.", Voldemort had already nodded his agreement, "Yes."

Harry slowly put down his glass and icily disagreed, "I do not consent."

Voldemort was puzzled as he looked at the clearly enraged Harry, not understanding the antipathy over a simple photo. Looks like he had better have a discussion with Harry. "Go wait over there." He told the photographer, sending him a distance away.

"Harry, can you tell me what is the matter? It's just a photo." Voldemort asked softly, after setting a privacy ward.

Harry grimaced, "It's different if it's going to be on the "Daily Prophet". It will let everyone know of my relationship with you and I just want to live a simple, peaceful life!"

"I thought you wanted to get into the Muggle Liaison Office." Voldemort raised a brow in puzzlement.

"Of course I do, but I also want to live an ordinary life." Harry thought that Voldemort was being very unreasonable, it's not like they have to announce their relationship to the world for him to get into the Muggle Liaison Office.

"Ah…" Voldemort finally understood what the problem was, his little Harry had first lived in the muggle world then at the ivory tower that was Hogwarts, he had no concept of certain facts. He would have to enlighten Harry as to the reality of the situation.

Voldemort chose his words carefully, he didn't want to shatter the boy's core of innocence. "Harry, Harry, you are still in school, you do not understand the complexities of our society. The current Ministry is a platform for struggle between myself and Dumbledore, each and every position is a point of contention and compromise between us. Every employee at the Ministry has a strong affiliation for either side, the only unaffiliated one is Fudge, but he is just a puppet, nobody cares what he says."

"You mean…" Harry squeezed out several meaningless words, then fell silent.

"I mean that your original suppositions were completely off the mark. The present Ministry cannot accommodate a single unaffiliated, ordinary wizard, even if his goal is the Muggle Liaison Office. I only provide positions for purebloods, Dumbledore only provides positions for elites, and to obtain these positions, you must first serve me, or him. Otherwise, even if Dumbledore agrees to let you enter the Muggle Liaison Office, the other members of the Order of the Phoenix would object. They can't let even the lowliest position, such as those in the Muggle Liaison Office, be filled by an unaffiliated wizard with average grades, it's a potential risk and they have to be prudent. For me, I am sure that you are on Dumbledore's side." Voldemort sipped coffee and looked at Harry with a smile.

"You mean, if I am still how I was before, I could not have become a Muggle Liaison Officer?" Harry spoke very, very, slowly.

"It's possible, but you would've had to deal with my animosity and the distrust of the Order of the Phoenix at the same time." And if war broke out, you would be an enemy to both sides.

The sunlight outside the window was still brilliant and warm, but Harry felt like his entire body was frozen.

"So you see, it is necessary to vigorously announce your existence to everyone if you want to enter the Ministry of Magic. Of course, it would have the same effect if you openly joined Dumbledore's camp." Voldemort's smile was filled with delight. Even if Harry wanted to join, those do-gooders of the Order of the Phoenix would never accept the nephew of Voldemort, even if he joined as a spy he would be suspected of being a double agent.

From Voldemort's expression it was hard to tell if he was lying, lying was natural to Slytherins. But why would Voldemort need to set up such an elaborate hoax. Harry ran his hand heavily through his hair, the jeweled barrettes automatically restored his hair to neatness. It seems that he had underestimated the tension between Voldemort and Dumbledore of this time and looked at the future too simplistically. Of course, one can't blame him, in fifth year he had wanted to be an Auror and had the backing of the entire school, in sixth year war broke out and he went straight into combat as the "Savior" without graduating from Hogwarts, at that time he was only required to fight, fight and fight, there were other, more suitable people, to handle the politics, like Dumbledore, like Hermione. Asking him to think of such complicated matters was a bit beyond his abilities. But one thing is certain, he would not join Dumbledore's camp, Voldemort will be the final victor, and he was tired of struggling pointlessly.

"What if I don't join the Ministry and just live a peaceful life?" Harry started to consider giving up.

"That is no longer possible for you Harry. Everybody already knows you exist, a photo won't make much of a difference." Voldemort spread his hands, "Why not be more open about it? Let the magical world see how gracious you are."

After waiting more than ten minutes, the photographer got his wish. Voldemort was tightly hugging Harry's waist and smiling with pleasure and Harry's smile was more forced, as his began to make plans for his future.

For four years, Harry had thought that he could watch the war from the sidelines, not participating, not interfering. After all, he was just a passerby, he had already given up on the best chance of changing history, so he has no reason to try and extend the war against Voldemort and worsen the damage. A stable magical world, whether light or dark, was better than a fractured magical world.

But after all the twists and turns over four years, he was about to be dragged into this war. If he went into the Ministry as per his intention- as Voldemort's nephew, no matter where he was assigned, he would still be Voldemort's nephew.

Yes, it would be better if he gave up on his original plans.

When the shopping commenced again, Voldemort was thrilled that Harry started to make his own requests.

"I want this." Harry stood quietly in front of a giant glass globe with cosmological bodies floating above it, "My astronomy is not very good."

Voldemort was curious as to why Harry was suddenly concerned about learning, but he was happy to fulfill Harry's every desire.

A gold gobstones set, a jeweled wizards chess set, exploding snap cards, various fireworks, and—

"A Firebolt!" Harry was shocked as he pressed against the shop window.

After coming to this time, he had not seen many advancements but there were some small changes, flying brooms being one of them. There was still the Cleansweep range, but the Nimbus range had appeared earlier. James and Lucius had the Nimbus 1981 and the Slytherin Quidditch team used the Nimbus 1980, the Nimbus 1980's speed was almost on a par with the Nimbus 2000 and the Nimbus 1981 was just as fast as the Nimbus 2000. This was quite a shock to Harry when he went to see his first Quidditch game.

And now, he was shocked again as in the store window, was a magnificent, incomparably beautiful broom that was exactly the same as the Firebolt he remembered.

The sign in front of the broom confirmed him theory—Newest product "Firebolt".

"The English team has already bought seven, it's going to make a great showing at next year's Quidditch World Cup!" The owner announced proudly.

Harry stared greedily at the Firebolt, instinctively recalling the one he had owned and how naturally and easily he fly on it, also bringing up many long forgotten memories. He wanted to own another Firebolt, not just because it was a flying broom, but because it brought with it many of Harry's memories.

But, it was too expensive! Even if Harry's boots cost 5000 galleons, Harry couldn't ask for this.

"I think that we will need to carefully pick one." Voldemort put his arm around Harry's narrow waist, intimately pressing their bodies closer together, Harry was going to shrug away but he stilled in shock at Voldemort's words.

"You… you're really going to buy me one? But it's too expensive." Harry said weakly.

Sorrow rose in Voldemort's heart and he tightly embrace this unfortunate child. In the past fifteen years, what kind of life had Harry had, he should have been living at the top of society, with wonderful clothes, eating extravagant food, indulged by parents and servant, but here he was, worrying over a pitiful broom.

He lowered his head and kissed Harry's smooth brow, gently and tenderly soothing this heartbreaking boy, "My darling treasure, my Harry, it's just a broom, don't worry. Whatever you want, as long as I am able, I will give it to you."

Harry touched his brow, bewildered, when Voldemort touched him, he thought it would hurt like crazy, instead not only did it not hurt, it felt rather warm.

How strange!

At a loss, he lowered his eyes and allowed Voldemort to lead him into the Quidditch supplies store in his arms.

Voldemort chose a Firebolt for him and smilingly whispered in his ear, asking whether he liked that one, his ear itching a little from Voldemort's breath, Harry sent him a puzzled look, why did he need to stand so close just to speak to him? Nevertheless, Voldemort's taste was impeccable and he had definitely chosen the best Firebolt.

So a broom and a broom care kit were added to the packages being carried by the house elves.


	4. Chapters 21 to 30

**21-25.**

When the two finished their shopping, it was already after dark and dinner was about to begin at Hogwarts.

Harry got on the night carriage and began to think about what he would eat at dinner.

"Harry." Voldemort pulled Harry from his thoughts of dinner. He turned around in puzzlement and felt a heavy golden locket being slipped over his head and falling to his chest, on the locket was the initial S for Slytherin, shaped like a hissing snake. Slytherin's locket.

"If you're ever in danger, hold the locket and it will bring you to me." Voldemort said, the obsidian ring glinting on his finger.

Why was this man being so good to me? Because they were related? But he had killed Morfin Gaunt, his true relative. "Why? Why are you being so good to me?"

"Because you are worth it." Voldemort's face was filled with softness.

Harry blinked hazily, what did he mean by that? "Because I'm going to be powerful?"

Voldemort laughed. "Harry, you are not willing to join my side, your power is no use to me no matter how great it is."

"Then why?" Harry was baffled as he locked gazes with Voldemort.

Voldemort did not answer him, instead he reached out to ruffle his hair, "One day you will understand."

Harry walked into the hall and instantly all the students quieted as thought they had been _Silencio_-ed. When Harry departed in the morning a few of the students of the other houses had witnessed Harry's beauty and rumors had quickly circulated amongst the female student over Harry's looks, by noon even the male students had started to ask their Slytherin friends about the rumors and by dinner, rumors of Harry's allure had spread to every corner of Hogwarts. Accordingly, almost everyone in the Great Hall was eagerly anticipating Harry's arrival, waiting for the confirmation of the facts.

As brilliant as sunlight, as radiant as spring flowers, like a full moon over the ocean and like morning mist, Harry was like an impossible dream, dazzling almost everyone.

And it was ALMOST everyone, because several people—Dumbledore (perhaps he had already known what lay beneath Harry's glasses), Professor McGonagall (because she is not dazzled by anything), Snape, James, Sirius and Remus.

"Merlin," Sirius dropped his fork with an unnoticed thud, "James, he looks like he could be your brother!"

Remus couldn't help swinging his gaze between Harry and James then shook his head, "You two really do look alike, apart from your eyes. James, maybe you should write a letter home and ask your family whether there's a kid missing from the family."

"Especially given that his name is also Potter," Sirius said darkly, "It can't all be a coincidence."

Still engrossed in Harry's beauty, Pettigrew dully continued, "Yeah, maybe you're cousins." Peter tittered.

"Shut up, Pettigrew!" The three yelled together.

That night Harry's rooms were transformed. His bed was moved to the innermost part of the room and the area within twenty paces of his bed was charmed to ensure that all the furniture would have sufficient space. The original four poster bed draped with silver and green French velvet was replaced with an opulent bed big enough to accommodate eight people, with silver velvet drapes wrapped in silver lace, hanging from the top of the tall frame carved with golden winged angels and fairies as well as luscious ivy, to the bedposts. Various overstuffed cushions were scattered over the bed and a pristine white merino blanket, soft and fluffy down pillows and an exceptionally smooth silk sheet set combined to form a breathtaking picture: a new crescent moon slowly rising in a dark blue night sky, dense forests next to a shimmering lake, a golden horned, silver unicorn standing nearby, adorable flower fairies flitting and dancing around.

The golden closet was filled with various items of clothing: bathrobes, pajamas, shirts, pants, vests, jacket, robes, all made from silk, wool and velvet, in soft and complementary colors. Several items of muggle clothing were hanging in the darkest corner. Inside one of the drawers were underpants and shorts in muted colors, several drawers were filled with barrettes, ties, tie clips, cuff links and silk handkerchiefs. Ten pairs of elegant wizards hats and warm gloves were placed together. In the lower parts of the closet were three rows of high class shoes, leather loafers, short boots and long boots, the two pairs of sneakers were hidden in an out of sight corner. The golden full length mirror was placed next to the closet, making it easier for Harry to coordinate his attire. Next to the mirror was the redwood book case, on the first shelf were Harry's school books, on the second shelf were books Harry had borrowed from the library, on the third shelf were Harry's school supplies, including his wand and the glass globe for astronomy. And on the fourth shelf were Harry's various recreational supplies, Harry's beloved Firebolt and the broom care kit were placed on the last shelf. A porcelain vase rested peacefully on the silver bedside cabinet inside of which was a single blushing rose. All the candy had been placed inside one of the drawers and inside the last drawer was a big bag of galleons—Harry's spending money.

The bathroom had also undergone changes, from one big bathroom into two smaller bathrooms. But Harry's bathroom only appeared small on the outside, on the inside, it was as big as a classroom. Silver green ceiling, double layered crystal chandelier, the walls and floor were covered in snowy white marble. White linen curtains shielded the room from any prying eyes and a pile of white wool towels were placed in the corner. Silver racks covered one entire wall, filled with premium skincare products. The snowy white, marble bathtub was the size of a small swimming pool and soaps and lotions were dispensed from a hundred faucets were sufficient to satisfy even the most decadent desires, there was even a diving board.

It took Harry a long time to get used to such overly lavish ways of living.

"Harry, you got an E on your last Magical History essay!" Snape was astonished as he looked at the parchment in Harry's hand, this was truly unexpected, in the past Harry had only ever gotten E or above in muggle studies.

Unlike Snape, Harry was not happy with his score. "I thought I'd get an O. I must have missed a few points, what do you think?"

"I think that with Binns as a Professor, it was exceptional for you to have five points." Snape grimaced, "After all, you are the only one in Slytherin to get an E or better."

"Magical history should be vibrant and grand." Harry muttered, "So, I only have one choice." Even though he didn't like that choice. He stood, taking his parchment and text book with him, "is Voldy usually in his office or his quarters around this time?"

Snape looked up at the green clock in the common room to see the snake's head pointed at the eight with the tail half way towards the first mark, "8:03. Professor Voldemort is usually in his office before 8:30."

"Thanks a lot."

Harry walked up to Voldemort's office door, he was about to knock but the portrait of Medusa gave him a sultry look. "You don't need to knock dear." She silently moved aside and warm air wafted out from the room.

"Harry?" Voldemort's quill stopped in the middle of marking a student essay and he lifted his head, crimson eyes flashing with joy. Harry is the only one in the castle, other than himself, who can come into his office without knocking.

"Yes, it's me." Harry shook his head, trying to shake off the chill he got from Medusa's sultry look, "You, uh, you… uh, you look like you're very busy." Seeing the piles of student essays yet to marked on Voldemort's desk, Harry didn't know whether he should ask Voldemort to tutor him.

Voldemort waved his wand and the essays disappeared. With another wave an armchair appear in front of Harry. "Sit, they weren't very important papers. Is there anything I can do for you?" This week he had tried to arrange for several private meetings with Harry only to be sternly rebuffed, he had not expected Harry to voluntarily come to meet with him alone. This must be important.

Harry handed him the piece of parchment, "My magical history essay."

Voldemort glanced at the E at the top of the parchment and commended, "A very good grade. Especially considering Binns' unbearable teaching method."

"It's not enough, my target was an O." Harry stated his goal.

The man lifted his left brow, wondering at the sudden change in Harry. "An O? That's quite a departure from your normal behavior? Wait," His fingers ran softly over his chin, "Hm… that's right, your academic performance has been quite outstanding these last few days. In Herbology you gained 20 points for Slytherin, Professor McGonagall was also quite excited when she relayed to me how you turned a telescope into an owl and Professor Pierce… of course, muggle studies has always been your strongest subject." He looked deeply into Harry's eyes, "My dear Harry, what has brought about this change in you?"

Harry shrugged, "I have a new target. I don't want to get into the Muggle Liaison Office anymore."

"Oh?" Voldemort gave a fascinated smile, "It seems that you are aiming quite high this time."

Harry gave a fake quirk of his lips, his air of resistance causing Voldemort to abandon further questioning to ferret out Harry's new goal. After all, he would be able to legitimately discover this information after the first week of summer vacation.

He cleared his throat, not wanting to dwell on this topic, "So, what can I do for you?"

Wringing his fingers, Harry wasn't sure whether his plans would cause a lot of trouble for Voldemort, until he walked into Voldemort's office he hadn't known that professors had to mark so many essays.

"No matter Harry, please ask whatever you want, I am your relative." Voldemort urged.

His desire to achieve his target overriding his other concerns, he resolved to ask, "I hope, um, I hope you can tutor me, my magical history and my astronomy is quite bad, and I'm not confident over the exams for the other subjects."

What could Voldemort say to this? What would he say? This is excellent opportunity! Harry is offering himself on a silver platter, there's no reason for him to not accept. This is golden opportunity for long term, sustained, intimate contact, he would not be a man if he turned down this opportunity!

"Tutor you?" He repeated the delightful request, worried that he had only imagined it.

Harry misunderstood his reaction. "If you're too busy, I'll just…"

"No no no, I'm not busy at all, I have plenty of time." Voldemort hurried to clarify,  
>"What time do you think would be best for your tutoring Harry?"<p>

Deeply relieved, Harry finally stopped wringing his fingers, "If it's not too much trouble, I would like to have sessions every Tuesday and Thursday."

"Ok." Voldemort readily agreed. "Hm, today is Thursday, shall we begin?" He was looking forward to this.

Harry nodded, "Today I would like to know what was missing from my magical history essay."

Voldemort smiled, "Why don't you sit a little closer? It will be hard to tutor you if you're sitting so far away."

Some say people are most beautiful when they are being earnest. Honed by war into someone who always gives their all in every task, Harry at his most earnest was an incredibly alluring sight. Voldemort found himself forgetting what he was about to say as Harry's captivating green eyes stared into his own, filled with trust and respect, exuding a tempting allure that aroused Voldemort's desire to take Harry into his arms coddle him.

After two hours of tutoring, the sweet torture was almost beyond his ability to endure.

"Thank you Voldy." Harry's words were heartfelt. Voldemort was definitely one of the greatest geniuses in Hogwarts' history, his knowledge was broad and his interests diverse, he was also well informed over various types of information, he had earned Harry's respect and admiration. In Voldemort's words, magical history had regained its majesty and fascination. The past two hours were of great benefit to him and he couldn't wait for future tutoring sessions.

"It's the least I can do Harry. You are my blood after all." Voldemort said gently. Seeing that Harry was about to leave, he hurriedly said, "Harry, can I give you a goodnight kiss?"

Goodnight kiss? Harry frowned deeply, Voldemort wanted to give him a goodnight kiss? This felt slightly surreal, they were once sworn enemies! Also, it would hurt badly. But Voldemort was his guardian now, though he was not aware that in a decade or so "neither shall live while the other survives", a goodnight kiss seems to be a fairly reasonable request.

Harry struggled internally for a while, but given how Voldemort had patiently tutored him, he agreed. "Of course." Then he could refuse future goodnight kiss requests based on the pain in his scar.

Eagerness and excitement filled Voldemort's mind as he took a deep breath, trying to rein in his rampant emotions, he planted a tremulous kiss on Harry's brow. Light as a butterfly's wing and just as fleeting, otherwise he was worried that he might not be able to restrain himself from going further.

Harry touched his forehead in confusion, that didn't hurt at all, instead there was a feeling of warmth, just like the last time in Diagon Alley. Has Voldemort become fond of him, causing the effects of the scar to change?

Lucius walked elegantly up to Snape, "Harry, Severus, there is something I must inform you of."

The two looked up from their game of wizards chess and asked together, "What is it?"

Lucius found Harry's cocked head both adorable and alluring and wanted to enjoy the view as much as possible. "There will be a Revel tonight. Severus you have missed three revels, Professor Voldemort feels that you could do with some relaxation."

Snape's already dark expression stiffened further, lowering his voice he confirmed, "Please assure Professor Voldemort that I will attend."

Being a fellow recipient of the invitation, Harry frowned reluctantly. As a Slytherin, he had of course heard of the notorious revels, Snape had also sparsely indicated that the revels were less than respectable. Sensuous, suggestive music set the background for groups of men and women to unleash their desires, pursuing purely physical enjoyment, out loud, Harry called them "Bodily Exchange Parties" in his mind he called them "Indiscriminate orgies", Snape just called them "Parties for idiots without morals".

"Do I have to attend as well?" Harry asked Lucius with dislike.

"Of course not. You do not have to attend if you do not want to." Lucius generously stated.

Beside him, Snape's brows lifted in surprise, but Harry remained oblivious.

Harry's frown smoothed away and he lightly answered, "I will not be attending."

"Understood." Lucius was deeply relieved. Voldemort had forbidden Harry from attending, he didn't even want Harry to know about the events, it was only after Lucius pointed out that the existence of the revels could not possibly be completely concealed that Voldemort gave up on that terrible idea. But this way, Lucius had also been given an impossible task, he had to use any means necessary to prevent Harry from attending while not hiding the event from him. Fifteen is the age for thrill seeking and even students of the other three houses were sampling forbidden fruit. Lucius had been pondering how to complete his task but surprisingly Harry was not the slightest bit interested in the revel! The mission was completeed with an unexpected amount of ease. The little beauty might be a bit of a prude, or was possibly mysophobic.

That night, Harry and his other two roommates who were not invited, stayed in the dorm room.

This was the best choice. The revel was to be held in the common room and would normally last until four or five in the morning, if one went for a stroll that night they might interrupt others in an embarrassing moment. Those who were invited to attend were not your average students, although they may not hit you with an _Avada Kedavra_, there are plenty of dark curses that would cause significant pain and damage.

Harry took out the glass globe and compared it to his astronomy text. This year he was taking the OWLs for DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Herbology, Astronomy, Magical History, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies, his target was nine Os, he still had a way to go in magical history and astronomy.

"If I do this… then that…" Harry waved his wand and the cosmological bodies on the globe changed positions with his wand movements.

He scratched his head in confusion, the barrettes again tidying the messy areas automatically. "Looks like I'll have to go to the library after all."

The lights were out in the common room, hundreds of heart shaped candles gave off a pinkish light and passionate music was being broadcast from an unknown location. The sofas (except Harry's sofa), tables and the floor were covered with twisting bodies, and the panting, moaning and slapping of skin on skin filled the room.

Harry carefully navigated between the various oblivious men and women, unavoidably interrupting a few, those few turned to glare but on finding that it was Harry, gave up and returned to their activities.

"Harry, is something the matter?"

Startled, Harry turned around to discover Lucius. Platinum blond hair falling to his well defined chest, a lovely young man sprawled on the sofa beside him, frantically trying to cover his body.

Harry quickly turned his gaze away. "It's nothing, I just needed to go to the library… oh, Severus?"

Snape was sitting in a corner, an enthralled young man moving up and down in his lap. The young boy had a head of soft brown hair and glistening amber eyes. The boy looked vaguely familiar to Harry but he couldn't recall where he had seen him before.

"That's surprising, I didn't know that Severus liked boys." Harry blurted out.

"And he's attracted to someone he shouldn't have fallen in love with." Lucius' face darkened.

"… I had no idea…" Harry was stunned still.

"Professor Voldemort is also aware. We all tried to talk to him but he would not be swayed. So we found him a substitute to try and distract him." Lucius sighed, Snape's stubbornness was the source of many of his headaches.

Also concerned about Snape, Harry sympathized with Lucius, he was well aware of Snape's stubbornness. He couldn't help but try to offer some comfort, "It appears to be working."

Lucius snorted, "That's only because Professor Voldemort issued an order! Otherwise he would just be sitting in a corner drinking."

"That is concerning." Harry agreed. He had always been rather oblivious when it came to emotions and when it comes to other people's emotions he has no idea what to do, it seemed to him that any method he could think of to comfort Snape would be wrong.

Lucius felt much better after getting that load off his chest and noticing the disgruntled look in the eyes of the boy on the sofa, he hurriedly urged Harry to leave. "Right Harry, weren't you going to the library?"

Shaken from his thoughts, Harry recalled his purpose for leaving his room. "Right."

He hurried to leave but just before go through the portrait hole, he glanced at Snape again, although his hair was no longer greasy and covering his face Harry was still filled with a sense of despair over the life of his friend.

As it was Saturday, there weren't many people in the library, students read or conversed quietly in twos and threes. Harry's appearance brought suspicion and fascination to their faces. He isn't attending the Slytherin revel?

The books in the library were not able to completely shed light on Harry's queries, putting the books back, he prepared to ask Voldemort during their next tutoring session. After several steps he stopped and saw out of the corner of his eye a girl standing on tip toes trying to get a book from a shelf too high for her to reach, she a head of red hair and a Gryffindor scarf. As far as Harry knew there was only one redheaded girl in Gryffindor and that was Lily Evans.

Just a little more, just a little more, Lily encouraged herself, just a little further! Having obtained rare permission from Professor Slughorn to take out "Moste Potente Potions", she could not let this opportunity slip away because she was too short!

She sighed in disappointment, she was so close! Should she levitate herself? But if she did that Madam Pince would probably kick her out of the library.

"Do you need some help?" A pleasant voice asked.

She turned and looked right into a set of river green silk robes, under the robes were a pair of dragonhide boots and a golden locket hung on the chest of the person who had pale, slender fingers. She lifted her head and looked into familiar, gentle green eyes set in the expected, adorable and delicately featured face.

All along, Lily had felt a sense of familiarity from Harry Potter, like they had known each other a long time ago. No matter how many bad things people had said about him, she had never been able to equate those things with Harry. She wanted to meet him, get to know him, but the animosity between the houses and James' pursuit of her had caused only coldness to appear in his eyes when he looked at her. Meeting on the Hogwarts express at the beginning of the year was a wonderful opportunity and Harry was a loving and kind boy just as she had thought, they had had a chance to turn the short friendship into a more enduring one but Slytherin's bigotry had ruined all that.

After that, the disgrace of Slytherin became the Prince of Slytherin. An elegant and handsome face combined with the prestige of his birth and his impeccable attire elevated him well above the dashing and also nobly-born Sirius Black to being the most popular male student in Hogwarts, his outstanding performance during classes had also almost elevated him on a level with James Potter. She knew then that the budding friendship would not have any opportunity to continue.

She looked up at the book then turned to Harry, alright, classmates can help each other even if they are not friends. "If it's not too much trouble, I would like the copy of "Moste Potente Potions."

Harry lifted his hand and the diamonds of his cuff links sparkling on the cuffs of his white silk shirt. He easily took out the book and handed it to Lily, "There you go."

"Thank you Potter."

Lily thanked him with her head lowered, then left. Harry watched her departing figure then said what he had wanted to say for a long time.

"I'm sorry Evans, I would like to apologize for what happened on the first day of school. I did not keep my word to you and disappointed you."

On hearing that, Lily stopped. "No, you don't need to apologize to me. I heard what had happened to you, if I was in your position, I would have done the same as you, after all, Professor Voldemort is not one for empty threats."

"Even so, it does not absolve me of my own cowardice and weakness." Harry deeply regretted his decision and admitted that he was not brave enough.

"There is no need to be so hard on yourself. As I said, if I was you, I would have done the same thing, it's human nature. If you had defied Professor Voldemort, you might not be at Hogwarts anymore and we would not be talking today. So you see, your decision was quite correct." Lily turned around, quite puzzled over Harry's self-castigation.

"Then, can we try again on our friendship?" Harry hesitated, but still said.

Lily shook her head. It appears that he had not learned his lesson. "Professor Voldemort will not allow that, not in the past, not now and not in the future."

Harry's heart sank, he knew there was no hope. Voldemort, yes, Voldemort, that man had already made his stance on muggles and muggle born witches and wizards clear, Harry had no choice anymore.

He throat moving a few times, he opened his mouth with difficulty, "In that case, if there is anything I can do for you in the future, please tell me, I will do my best to help you if I can." It was the only promise he could make.

Lily's affirmative reply did not do much to cheer Harry up, he was so deep in thought that he almost walked into James Potter.

"Well well well, Harry Potter, quite surprising that YOU are not attending the Slytherin revel. What, can't get it up?" Sirius, who was even more obnoxious than James, said.

"Black, don't project your own concerns onto me. Gryffindor's bullheadedness has long been the wonder of Slytherin." Was Harry's sharp-tongued reply.

"Wow- you're certainly quite different now that you have some major backing. Not only are your grades advancing by leaps and bounds, even your words are sharper." This time it was James. Even though letters from his family had reassured him that there were no missing children, Harry's obvious resemblance to the Potter family still had no clear explanation. Maybe it's just a coincidence, he thought.

Harry opened his mouth to reply but spied Remus Lupin from the corner of his eyes and gasped in shock.

Brown hair! Amber eyes!

He knows now who Snape's substitute resembles, it's Remus Lupin!

Snape has fallen in love with Remus, no wonder he's drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

Harry's thoughts were a mess, the string of shocking events sapping his will to argue. Utilizing the skills taught to him by Voldemort, he expertly hissed, [_Get out of my way!_]

Parseltongue bolstered by anger projected an even greater amount of terror, even James and Sirius, well known for their fearlessness, involuntarily took several steps back.

Using this opening, Harry squeezed past the two and hurried back to the Slytherin common room. The revel was still going strong in the common room, Harry threw another complicated look at Snape, who was still fully dressed, and the eyes of the boy in his lap were filled with frustrated tears. Whenever he recalled who Snape was substituting that boy for Harry wanted to howl in frustration. This is great, Snape is in love Remus, he wanted to have a beautiful friendship with his future mum, both of them are failures. The two of them can console each other.

On Sunday morning, Harry woke early. After a long, comfortable bath, his low spirits improved somewhat. Life has to be lived and one must look forward. Observing from afar could still be a kind of happiness right?

Leaving the bathroom, Harry was surprised to see that Snape had already finished he ablutions and was dressed neatly and waiting to go downstairs with him. "Severus, why didn't you sleep a little longer?" He wasn't sure what time Severus got back, but based on how agitated his partner of the night was, it probably wasn't too early.

Not sure whether he was imagining it, he thought he saw a flash of sorrow in Snape's dark eyes, "I don't want to miss breakfast."

The breakfast spread did not disappoint Snape, the food was abundant and the table groaned under the weight. After last night, no, this morning's antics, the Slytherin table was less than half full compared to usual, even Lucius had not appeared. Under these circumstances, Harry's gaze could easily reach all the way over to the Gryffindor table on the other side of the hall.

James and Sirius were murmuring to each other and Remus was gently passing a soup bowl to a girl. Harry instinctively turned and crashed into Snape's loving gaze before he could turn his eyes away (although to Remus it appeared to be a hate filled gaze instead).

Trapped, Snape succumbed to a rare instinct to panic, even dropping his fork. Harry couldn't help sighing and looked once again toward the Gryffindor table to search out Lily's form while Snape was busy retrieving his fork.

Perhaps because there is something mysterious connecting mother and child, but Harry's gaze met with Lily's. Lily's expression grew complicated for a moment, then she decisively shifted her gaze away.

Harry slumped and his appetite disappeared, only able to stomach several more mouthfuls of porridge.

He could not have known that those few seconds of what would have appeared to be normal eye contact to anyone else, would have revealed the turbulent emotions between he and Lily to two individuals.

After being inspected by Filch, Harry and Snape made their way to Hogsmeade. Snape's spirits were frightfully low and his crisp black hair fell low over his face, covering his expression and keeping everyone at a distance.

To try to brighten the atmosphere, Harry handed him some candy, disinterested, he tossed the candy back to Harry, Harry dragged him into Honeydukes and promised to pick up the bill for anything Snape wanted but he pulled Harry right back out of the store.

"Hey, mate, mate, Severus, can't you cheer up? We came here to have fun today!" Harry huffily kicked a stone on the road to vent.

"Are you really in a mood to have fun with me?" The silent Snape finally said, but his words caused Harry nothing but confusion.

"Of course!" Harry pulled open his pocket exposing a hundred galleons, "I brought all my money!" In the past, Snape had always paid for him, now that he had money of course he had to repay Snape for his friendship and kindness. The money isn't his anyway so it was no skin off his back.

Snape lifted his face and stared right into Harry's eyes, "Last night… no, this morning, after the revel ended, Lucius told me that you knew."

"Oh."

"And this morning, you saw."

"So?" Harry was bemused.

"You must think I'm pitiful. He despises me, looks at me like I'm a snail and I fall in love with him. I'm overjoyed every time he talks to me, even if it's the vilest curse. I cannot sink any lower." His eyes filled with endless sorrow, Snape kept denigrating himself, in complete self-loathing. "I have turned my back on the honorable traditions of Slytherin, on my own principles, just to pander to a man who won't even look at me. If Professor Voldemort did not still have use for, I would have—"

"Stop!" Harry jumped in front of Snape and stopped his ever-worsening diatribe by covering his mouth with his hand, "Mate, old friend, you're overwrought right now and don't even know what you are saying. We'll go to the Three Broomsticks, get a butterbeer, eat something, and when you're calm, we'll talk, alright?"

A spark of clarity returned to Snape's frantic eyes, he pulled Harry's hand away and asked, "Why not the Hogshead?"

"The noisier the place the harder it will be for people to eavesdrop." Hagrid had taught Harry that.

The Three Broomsticks was as busy as ever and a young Rosmerta was absolutely mesmerizing.

Harry grabbed two butterbeers and was relieved to see that Snape was eating a slice of chocolate cake.

"Have a sip, settle down, Severus. Old friend, no matter what happens to you, I will always be your best friend, you have to trust me." Harry said.

Snape took a big gulp of butterbeer and a faint blush appeared on his sallow cheeks.

"What you just said, you must have said to yourself many times right?" Harry asked. Snape did not respond. "You don't have to be so hard on yourself, ok, love… love is faultless," Harry wracked his brain on how he should comfort Snape, "There's nothing wrong with falling in love. People will always fall in love." He took a sip, satisfied with his words.

Snape's eyes lit up, "You really think so?"

"Of course!" Harry nodded fiercely, "Of course I think so! Even though I'm a bit slow about relationships, that doesn't mean that I can't help you Severus. Once you decide what you want, I will help you no matter what." Harry sincerely promised. Once Snape makes a decision, he will never sway from his course, if so, even if Remus loses James and Sirius in the future, he will still have someone at his side.

**26-30.**

Snape was deeply moved. Before, when Voldemort and Lucius learned of his emotions, their only action was to try and stop him. Persuading, warning, admonishing, finding substitutes, assorted methods one after the other. Even though he knew they were right, even though he knew they only wanted the best for him, even though he knew he was doomed to fail, still, there was a thread of resentment in his heart for their lack of understanding and support. He knew that Harry was not like other Slytherins, but at vital moments Harry can be very Slytherin. Harry had chosen to forsake Lily but had not hesitated to support his love, this hit Snape like a shot of firewhiskey, both bitter and burning. Even though he knew nothing could come of his love, he will never forget what Harry had done for him.

"Just…" Harry hesitated, should he tell Snape this important fact? He's not sure how deeply Snape loves Remus, whether it was deep enough to accept the fact that Remus is a werewolf.

"Just what?" Snape was puzzled by Harry's hesitation, "You may as well tell me." He knew his love was just a pipedream, it was enough that Harry was willing to support him.

"…um…" Harry tested the water vaguely, "If… if… Lupin… has a little, LITTLE, problem!" He stated hurriedly, "Would you still love him?"

Snape took another gulp of butterbeer, sallow face bright red, "Little problem? He has a huge problem and I still…" He suddenly stopped and looked around guardedly, seeing that no one had noticed them, he relaxed a little.

"What do you think of werewolves?" Harry threw out in a low voice.

Snape coughed and almost choked on the piece of honey candy he had just put in his mouth. He asked as he panted, "You… what did you say?"

Snape doesn't already know does he? Who told him? Voldemort? That was possible, as a professor, Voldemort must know about Remus being a werewolf, had perhaps violently objected to Remus coming to school at Hogwarts.

Snape obviously misunderstood Harry's meaning, he thought that Harry was afraid, it was normal to be afraid of werewolves. He was getting more and more concerned over Lupin's situation, it was still okay at Hogwarts, but what could Lupin do after graduation? "Noth-nothing."

"You just said it," Harry glanced around and lowered his voice, "werewolf."

Snape strenuously denied, "I did not!"

"You did!"

"Did not!" Snape bellowed, calculating whether he should use some methods to make Harry forget some things, methods that were inappropriate for friends.

This argument is useless, Harry told himself. He decided to take a chance and clarify the matter, if the situation worsened he could make Snape forget his words. "Seriously Severus, do you know about Lupin being a… werewolf?" He stared tightly into Snape's black eyes.

Snape's eyes widened, emotions flashing through his eyes: shock, bemusement, disbelief, and a little spark of joy, but lacking in the fear and terror Harry was worried about. "You know too?" He indirectly confirmed Harry's suspicion.

Harry completely relaxed his high-strung nerves and sprawled in the chair, "Yeah, I know, I arrange lunar calendars for fun." Harry vaguely explained and waved his hand, dismissing Snape's question, "I'm more curious about how you knew about it?"

"Professor Voldemort told me. When Headmaster Dumbledore accepted Lupin into the school, many of the teachers objected, Professor Voldemort objected the most strenuously." (Just as I supposed, thought Harry) "He thought it wasn't' safe, that it was playing with the safety and lives of the students, but Headmaster Dumbledore insisted."

Snape's words proved Harry's theories correct. "So to make you give up, he told you the secret that only the teachers know."

Snape nodded, his face getting redder, "I was shocked at first, stunned. But it wasn't Lupin's fault that he was turned into a werewolf, he was just a child, he couldn't protect himself, he was a victim!" He guzzled down the rest of the butterbeer.

Harry patted his shoulder in consolation then got up to get two pear ciders from the bar. Anymore alcohol and Snape might get completely smashed.

"That was the problem I wanted to ask you about, anyway I think it's a little problem." Harry pursed his lips, the taste of that cider… was acceptable. "The key is, what are you going to do? Continue to love from afar, or take a chance?"

Snape didn't like the taste of the cider and pushed it aside after a single taste. "I can't give up, even if I find love completely perplexing. Just the thought of becoming mortal enemies with him hurts me more than death. Taking a chance… no, I can't." He shook his head after careful deliberation.

Harry did not agree, "Why not? Lupin is a pureblood, he's smart and kind, his being a Gryffindor is not sufficient reason for Voldemort to object."

Hearing Harry's words, Snape gave him a weird look and sneered, "Sometimes you are such a Gryffindor, you say the stupidest things."

Seeing that Harry did not understand and was feeling indignant, he had to explain, "You have to know that Professor Voldemort and Professor Dumbledore are in conflict with each other right? The way they're going, war could break out at any moment. If Lupin fell in love with me, what would he do then? What would I do?"

Harry was stunned, right, war would be breaking out in a couple of years, if Lupin fell in love with Snape, it was likely to be a tragedy and a disaster.

"Anyway, Lupin would never fall in love with me, things will never change between us and the Marauders." Snape's face was locked in a deep frown as he finished his cider, "I could use some mead."

Snape's love affair was really caught between a rock and a hard place, Harry wondered how this man's first love would turn out, "But you're suffering just as much now aren't you?"

"No more than I expected." Snape's smile was bitter, "Just being able to see him is enough. But, it pains me to see how badly he suffers when he returns to classes after every full moon. He looks so pale and so guilty, perhaps the Shrieking Shack was not enough of a deterrent to idiots, perhaps he had accidentally hurt someone… he's so kind and gentle, if something like that happened, it would hurt him terribly."

He's feeling guilty because he's wandering around with those three idiots! Harry thought. Imagining the consequences of Lupin attacking someone after him had transformed, Harry broke out in a cold sweat. He had never really given it much thought before, but when he actually thought about it, he realized the gravity of the situation. Despite Lupin's insistence that he had never hurt anyone, there have been small changes in history as he knew it, who knows whether James' and Sirius' reckless behavior has caused Remus to make any mistakes? He despised the James and Sirius of this time and even though Remus is a good person, he is too tolerant of his friends' actions. He spoke with careful emphasis on each word, "Severus, don't ask me how I know about this, but if there was a potion, which could allow a werewolf to maintain his human consciousness after transformation, allowing them to keep their wits while they sleep peacefully in the form of a transformed werewolf, but this potion involves complicated steps and is very difficult to make, with a high rate of accident or failure when made by an inexperienced brewer, would you be willing to try it?"

Snape's eyes brightened to such an extent that it was like they had caught fire from within.

"We can brew in the Room of Requirements, have you ever heard of it? I'll take you there. I will ask Voldy for help in purchasing the potion ingredients, several of the ingredients are not easy to obtain. As for when, I was thinking that it would be best to do it on a Sunday, because someone must stay with the potion constantly during the brewing process." Harry's proposal was met with Snape's total agreement and in anticipation of a successful brewing they knocked back their fifth mead.

Snape got up to get another round just as the door to the bar opened and several female students walked in, Lily was the most eye catching out of the group but Harry also recognized Neville's mother, Alice Nate.

Harry paused for a few seconds, then turned around and pretended that he hadn't seen them. Snape's words about the upcoming war was a wake-up call for Harry, even if Hogwarts was presently quiet and peaceful, it was merely the calm before the storm. He cannot place any more hope into building a relationship with Lily, it would be of no benefit to anyone, not Lily and not him. His circumstances are worse than Snape as he is, at least in name, Voldemort's nephew and his only blood relative, in the eyes of the Order of the Phoenix, he was the heir of the currently childless Voldemort. Once war broke out, he would immediately be seen as an enemy by the Order, no, perhaps this was already the case. And when that happened, Lily would suffer if she was friends with Harry. Lily might even try to convince him to switch sides and join the Order. But already knowing how the future will play out, he had no intention of running headlong into something that could not be achieved even with massive sacrifice and spilling the blood of countless people. It has already been proven that the forthright lions cannot defeat the devious snakes but instead would be swallowed whole. Even if, Merlin forbid, he lost his mind and helped Dumbledore destroy Voldemort, his good friend Lily might be Happy, but he could not speculate as to what type of treatment he himself would receive as Voldemort's heir. Even if Dumbledore could shield him for a time, it could not last forever and once Dumbledore died there's not much doubt that he would be send right to Azkaban to rot. People are after all fickle and hold on to their grudges. Harry would rather die in battle fighting Voldemort than to have to live on the run or be kissed by a dementor. Of course, the chances of the Order emerging as the victor were almost zero, so whichever way things turned out, Harry decided that it was better to keep his distance from Lily, that way when war broke out he would not have to worry about what to do with Lily, it would be more feasible to ensure the survival of those specific people if he was a member of the dark.

The door of the bar opened with a bang that made everyone jump in surprise. James and Sirius strutted in like they owned the place and Remus gave a soft, disapproving shake of his head with Pettigrew following behind them.

"Damnit, of all the people to run into!" Harry angrily complained.

James' gaze swept quickly over the bar, first locking onto Lily then quickly swinging to Harry.

"Looks like the slave has turned into the master. Hey Snivellus, how's it feel like to slave under a stupid master?" James said loudly in derision.

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask the ones behind you that question." Snape snarled hatefully at James.

"Who're you calling a slave?" Sirius' temper exploded like a lit fuse.

Snape gave a fake smile, "I wasn't talking about you Black, but if the shoe fits."

"_Stupe-"_ An enraged Sirius had pulled out his wand but was quickly stopped by Remus, "Stop it Sirius. This is a bar, we can't cause trouble for Madam Rosmerta."

James had grabbed Sirius' wand at the same time as Remus had stopped Sirius, he said slyly, "Slytherin are only good with words, not actions, once they start dueling they show their true colors. Otherwise I would challenge the Prince of Slytherin to a duel."

Harry put out his hand to restrain the angry Snape (Harry would never understand how such a hothead could turn into the calm and collected Professor Snape in the future), he stood, walked up to James and shook his finger in front of his face, "You're mistaken, James. We Slytherins are all about courtesy and controlling our impulses, not like the overactive Gryffindors with no outlet for their energy. If you really have so much energy and nowhere to expend it, why don't you go have a look around the Shrieking Shack."

At his last statement, the four Gryffindors froze in shock. Harry smiled coldly as he lowered his voice, "That place seems especially noisy a couple days out of every month, lots of animals running round," At this, the four paled dramatically, Harry deliberately leaned closer to James and whispered in his ear so only he could hear, with fake curiosity he said, "Now, why do you think there would be a stag in Hogsmeade?"

Stunned once again, James paled and could only stand there frozen as Harry and Snape left, unable to say a word.

Right after leaving the Three Broomsticks, Snape asked, "What did you say to James Potter? He looked like he had lost his wits."

Harry smiled non-commitally, that was his secret.

Returning from Hogsmeade after a satisfying trip, Harry and Snape buried themselves into arranging the brewing of the wolfsbane potion. First, Harry made a list of the ingredients and gave it to Voldemort, receiving his promise to get the items as soon as possible, next he went to the Room of Requirements with Snape. Finally, he wrote the instructions to the brewing of the wolfsbane potion from memory and gave them to Snape, asking him to familiarize himself with the process as much as possible. The brewing of the wolfsbane potion required copious amounts of concentration and Snape would not have time to refer to the parchment during brewing to read the next steps.

They were moving into December and the Christmas atmosphere grew stronger and stronger, with students starting to discuss things like how they were going to spend their Christmas holidays and what presents they might receive this year.

Harry anxiously threw down his quill, finished writing his answers to the questions on the "Hiccup Potion", "Voldy, when are the potion ingredients coming?" He wanted to stay at Hogwarts with Snape to brew the wolfsbane potion and they couldn't start without the ingredients.

Voldemort picked up the parchment, reviewed it in detail, then wrote an O at the top in satisfaction. "The quantities you asked for were quite large and it was not easy to get them all quickly. But don't worry, they should arrive tomorrow."

"Really?" Harry jumped up from the chair in joyful surprise. His little face looking quite adorable as he flushed with excitement.

Voldemort cocked his head, leisurely enjoying the rare and beautiful view as he nodded and said, "Of course, they assured me of this."

Wonderful! Harry quietly clenched his fists, this way he and Snape could move to the next part of their plan.

"What potion are you making? The ingredients you requested were quite peculiar." Voldemort was quite curious, he was quite knowledgeable and well read but he had never heard of the combination of ingredients on Harry's list.

Harry couldn't help smiling smugly at hearing that even Voldemort did not know what potion this was. In the past month there had been several occasions when he had been intimidated by the breadth of Voldemort's knowledge and that had been quite a severe blow to his pride, confidence and self-esteem, given this chance at getting some of his own back his head lifted and his nose pointed towards the ceiling. "Not telling, you'll just have to guess."

Hearing Harry's words, Voldemort was relieved that it wasn't anything dangerous and resolved to let Harry have his fun. "Be safe and get me immediately if something goes wrong."

The mood during the tutoring session had been quite pleasant but unfortunately, Christmas was approaching.

"Harry, what plans do you have for this Christmas?"

Harry didn't even have to think as he answered, "I'm staying at Hogwarts with Snape."

Voldemort's smile disappeared as he straightened in anger and surprise, "You're staying at Hogwarts?"

"Of course, that's what I've been doing for the last four years, after all I don't want to return to the orphanage." Harry's reply was quite matter of fact but on seeing Voldemort's darkening expression he quickly discovered his error and covered his mouth with his hands as he silently panicked. He'd forgotten that he had nothing to do with the orphanage anymore now that his guardianship had been transferred to the man in front of him.

"You do not need to return to the orphanage." Voldemort was quite despondent, it's already been two months and Harry was still oblivious.

"I need to stay at Hogwarts." Harry insisted.

"Christmas is for family reunions Harry, we are blood relatives, remember?" Voldemort's tone softened.

Harry was unmoved, "I think you just want to use that day to introduce me to your minions, those Death Eaters."

Voldemort choked a little, "Of course, that's only natural, you are my only family."

"I don't think I have anything in common with Death Eaters." Harry wouldn't even look at Voldemort, instead, he concentrated on reviewing his essay on the levitation charm.

"Harry! I am your guardian!" Voldemort grew more insistent.

Again with this! Harry finally lifted his head and narrowed his eyes, a slight sneer twisting the corner of his mouth, "Usually, you only remind me that you are my guardian when you are trying to force me to do something."

Voldemort didn't know what to say to that, how could Harry talk back to him like that, didn't Harry know that those who talked back to him had all been sent to the next world? "Are you saying that I am an unfit guardian?"

"I would be more grateful to you if you would be more considerate of my feelings." Harry said.

Voldemort's eyes narrowed as his thoughts spun quickly, trying to find another way to convince Harry. "Alright Harry, lets each give a little. You and I can spend Christmas day together and you won't need to interact with my Death Eaters at the Yule ball."

"I have very important things to do so I can go to Voldemort Manor on the evening of the 24th and I'll return on the 25th…" Harry sneaked a glance at Voldemort's expression, "…26th."

"Agreed." Voldemort's grin was quite sly, once Harry was on his turf, he would have ways of keeping Harry from returning before the end of the holidays.

Harry was quite apologetic when he returned to the dorm room, feeling that he was abandoning Snape alone at Hogwarts for Christmas, they had agreed to spend it together. As he informed Snape that he would be spending Christmas with Voldemort, he sat there waiting for his friend's recriminations.

Surprisingly and contrary to his expectations, Snape was glad to learn of his plans. "You're supposed to spend Yule with Professor Voldemort, he's your only family. You've both been alone for a long time, it's only right that you spend some time together. Stay at Voldemort Manor after the 24th, return to the school at the end of the holidays."

"No way." Harry was quite anxious, "The brewing of the wolfsbane potion is very complicated with more than a hundred steps, you need my assistance."

Snape was quite confident as he said, "At the earliest we can commence brewing tomorrow, I will have had enough time to familiarize myself with the process by the 24th. I don't mean to boast Harry, but even for the most complicated of potions, I have never needed to brew them more than three times before I can competently and successfully complete them. Despite the wolfsbane potion being complicated to an unprecedented degree, I will not suddenly have become an incompetent."

"But won't you be lonely spending so much time in the castle by yourself." Harry was still worried.

"I've been alone for the past fourteen year." Snape lowered his eyes. "This year I have my potions with me, I won't be lonely Harry, don't worry about me."

Speechless, Harry could only nod his acceptance.

The Christmas holidays commenced on schedule and most of the students went home. Lucius had invited Snape to Malfoy Manor but Snape had politely declined. Five o'clock on the afternoon of December 24th, Harry bade Snape farewell and got on the Pegasus drawn carriage to Voldemort Manor. Harry was warmly welcomed to Voldemort Manor by hundreds of house elves that lined the staircase, wearing clean and pretty tea towels with the word "Voldemort" printed on them, there were also beautiful fireworks.

Voldemort was very considerate over Harry's fatigue from spending one and a half hours in the flying carriage and had the house elves help Harry bathe and get into bed after coaxing him into eating several bites of supper.

After all, tomorrow's Yule ball was the main event.

On Christmas morning, Harry jumped out of the huge, soft bed and wished Hedwig, who was still not quite used to the golden cage, a "merry Christmas", grabbed her a bunch of Christmas presents- the new flavor owl treats, then began to open his own presents.

It was a very small pile, Snape's present was three bottles of a golden potion, Harry opened the top of one of them in disbelief and sniffed deeply, the unforgettable aroma slowly rising and filling his nostrils, the happy feeling was indicative of the _Felix Felicis_, or liquid luck potion. Compared to the vial Professor Slughorn had used as a prize, Snape's vials were twice as big, enough for a 24 hour dose, and there were three whole vials!

The writing on the second present belonged to Voldemort but it was signed "Nagini". A snake was giving him a present? Harry found that a bit strange.

Nagini had given Harry a gold hair clip set with hundreds of small diamonds. For a snake she had pretty good taste.

The last present was from Voldemort and it was a thick tome, "Premier Defenses Against the Dark Art", the book was filled with intricate illustrations and descriptions, more importantly there were actual live demonstrations. Harry learned a lot just from flipping through a few of pages.

Harry couldn't help feeling a little spooked by how in sync he and Voldemort were.

Going downstairs, Harry went to the dining room, Nagini was coiled up on the white woolen rug Harry had gotten her. [_Thank you for your present Harry!_] She was quite pleased, [_This is my first present, Voldy never gets me presents._]

Voldemort snorted, [_As a snake, you should be well satisfied by being well fed._] He waved the book in his hand, smiling brilliantly, "Thank you for your present Harry." He had not thought that Harry would have gotten him a present.

The book, "The Latest Dark Magics", was the result of Harry and Snape scouring Knockturn Alley in secret.

"But next time, please don't venture into such a dangerous place again, Knockturn Alley is not a suitable place for underage wizards." Voldemort was a little worried and wanted to keep Harry by his side at all times so that he won't go wandering into any more dangerous places. Thank Merlin for Slytherin's locket.

Harry shrugged nonchalantly. It wasn't like he wanted to go to places like that. If it wasn't for needing to get Voldemort's present, he wouldn't even be tempted to look at a place like that.

After partaking in a breakfast several times more lavish than that of Hogwarts, Voldemort suggested, "Do you want to go open the presents?"

"Presents?" Harry said in confusion, hadn't he already opened them?

The corner of Voldemort's mouth lifted in glee, "Come with me."

Harry and Nagini followed Voldemort as he left the dining room and moved to another room. Voldemort gracefully opened the door and Harry gaped the dazzling scene within.

A room twice the size of the Great Hall was filled from floor to ceiling with presents of all shapes and sizes, the room was almost overflowing but three house elves were stacking still more presents into the room.

"Just a little something from my underlings. Some worthless trinkets, luckily there will be no fakes." Voldemort randomly picked up a gift and handed it to Harry, "Keep them if you like them, you can throw them away if you don't."

Worthless trinkets! Harry's smile was ambivalent as he looked at the antique silver tea set in his hands, he might have seen it in Diagon Alley and the price tag on it was for 2100 galleons, granted it was not that valuable compared to a pair of boots costing 5000 galleons.

In the end, it was not Harry but the house elves who unwrapped all the presents. There were all sorts of things, light magic, dark magic, muggle and even a naked Veela, wasn't the giver worried that the Veela might freeze to death?

Harry was aghast, not sure what he should do with the gift, finally he gave her to Voldemort instead, it was no business of his what Voldemort did with her. He never saw her at Voldemort Manor after that. In later days, Harry could recall Voldemort mentioning nonchalantly that he had sent her to Malfoy Manor.

At 7:50 in the evening all the preparations had been completed. Mistletoe was hanging everywhere and tiny angels and fairies were hanging on the Christmas tree, the table was covered in spectacular food and wonderful wines and beverages and at 8:00 the ball commenced on schedule.

Apart from Voldemort presenting him to the Death Eaters at the beginning of the ball, Harry spent the rest of the night hiding in quiet corners. Young men and women wanting to entice him were rebuffed by his forbidding attitude and were leery of disturbing his solitude a second time. As Harry had expected, he was not fond of the fawning and fake platitudes of upper class gatherings, if it weren't for the fact that this would be the only ball during the holidays he would have returned to Hogwarts the next day.

As opposed to the glaringly out of place Harry, Voldemort was in his element. He was well used to the flow of such events and his regal elegance and air of authority made easily him the most striking individual out of all the attendees, on top of that he was a powerful dark wizard and his overwhelming coldness and endless darkness called for the surrender of everyone present, he was their king, he was ruler.

It was hard to reconcile this Voldemort with the gentle, indulgent Voldemort Harry was used to, his behavior in the Slytherin common room is just a fraction of his true presence, Harry thought. Harry had no interest as to finding out which was the real Voldemort, after all, people often had many facets and only someone cunning could devise countless unpredictable schemes that are both physically and mentally exhausting for their opponent. Only that kind of person could defeat the Order of the Phoenix. If a man like that could be said to have a weakness, that weakness would be Harry. Harry can't understand why Voldemort was so good to him, this was not something that could be explained away by a blood relation. At a time when war was about to break out, how could someone like Voldemort tolerate an heir who is constantly singing a different tune to him? Blood could not be more important than victory to someone like Voldemort. But Voldemort was supportive of Harry's desire to enter the Muggle Liaison Office. And so, Harry was mystified as to Voldemort's treatment of him, he seemed to genuinely like and care for him, he could not decide whether it was a trap to ensnare Harry to his side of the war or not.

"…and then I strung up this muggle woman on a tree and hung her upside down, and I took off her clothes one by one until she was naked, she stayed up there until someone found her the next day, ha ha ha…" Two drunk Death Eaters stumbled into the area where Harry was quietly sitting, each gloating over their accounts of muggle torture. Their heads raised by chance while they were laughing uproariously and their eyes clashed into Harry's icy gaze.

"Y-young Master Harry! We… the muggles… I mean…" The two had forgotten to salute and were incoherent. They had been warned prior to the ball that the new, young master was fond of muggles and that they should be careful of their words in front of him.

Harry's hand had tightened around his glass and his words had to be squeezed out between his clenched teeth, "I would like some peace and quiet."

"Huh?" Faced with something other than the expected torture, the two were baffled and did not know what to do.

"Harry means that you should get out of his sight!" The ominous, angry voice belonged to Voldemort, he had intended to come and talk to Harry for a bit before urging him to go to bed but had instead walked in on something like this.

"Yes, all powerful master!" The two terrified men ran to the other side of the ballroom at this unexpected reprieve.


	5. Chapters 31 to 40, and a letter to a fan

A/N: So, thanks everyone for your reviews, I'm glad that you like the translation and don't worry, I will definitely finish the whole thing. [Having been tortured ; ) by unfinished fics myself, I would never inflict it on anyone else.]

As I'm still quite new at this and quite lazy besides, please don't be offended that I'm not answering reviews on a one to one basis. I do read them and I am thankful to all of you, please accept the rest of the story as a token of my gratitude. (boy, was that pompous : p)

**The following reply to a review was added to this post after I read the review just before posting this section.**

Dear reviewer mydestiny88 (for those of you wondering why I am directly answering a review given what I wrote above, I would like to say that I believe in constructive criticism, but abhor nitpicking and condescension disguised as helpfulness and this is why I felt I had to make my opinions clear to all of you),

Firstly, I thank you for your (partially) constructive criticism where you mentioned that "_the part where Harry taunts Peeves about what his punishments should be, the part about Dumbledore … you translated to "or to have a good talk with the fox on Dumbledore's desk" a direct translation, which is correct. However, there was never a mention of Dumbledore having a fox, either a real or an (in)animate object (magical world and transfiguration master...) I personally think that the author was referring to Fawkes the Phoenix, hence CrownOfGlory's translation, "or pull out a feather from Dumbledore's Fawkes ". The "pull out a feather" part was implied as "the talk", but still..._" Not having read Crownofglory's translation in detail nor compared it to my own translation **word for word** (please recall that I had clearly stated my reasons for doing the translation from the beginning and refer to the introduction if necessary) I did not recall that Crownofglory had translated that part as Fawkes and pulling a feather, I think that's a great idea and I would have been happy to change my own work to make it "make more sense" if I hadn't read the rest of you review.

Sadly that tiny little part, which constituted of less than 5% of your review (purely in my own opinion of course, so don't sue me or anything), was the only constructive part of your review, the rest was just so much disdain and arrogance. Lets break it down shall we, let us break your review down as thoroughly as you saw fit to break down my work.

Your words - _um...I don't really see what the others mean about the flow and being more articulate_- come on, don't be shy, say what you really mean- you find my translation to be anything but "flowing better" and "being more articulate". I'm sorry to break the news to you my dear, but EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINION, other people CAN like my translation and my words and I DO NOT CARE that you do not agree with them. Saying that you don't think others are correct when they commend me IS NOT CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

Your words - _you take your translations too literal, like in the Peeves and Harry confrontation scene, where Harry asked Peeves where is his glasses, the author wrote, "__折断了埋进土里，你找也找不着！__" and you wrote, "Broken and buried in mud, you'll never find them!" The translation itself is right per say, however it somehow sounds wrong...I think, the mud part can be ommitted, since it is implied it's somewhere on Hogwarts' ground_- Seriously? Are you kidding me? Can you say… NITPICKING. You did not seriously take a whole paragraph to tell me, in detail, how you think one word should be omitted did you? Are you perchance a Chinese/English/Chinese-English Translation professor? And did you somehow mistake my posts as some sort of homework assignment submitted to you for your marking and assessment? If you did, let me just return the favour and do a little marking and assessment on your own words-

"you take your translations too literal": Dear student, the correct phrase would be: "you are too literal in your translations" or "you perform your translations too literally"

"where Harry asked Peeves where is his glasses"- (I can't really be bothered to check but I believe I wrote "Where are my glasses") Dear student, in future, please either use direct quotes or at least ensure that your paraphrasing is done correctly- the correct paraphrase should be "where Harry asked Peeves where his glasses were"

"per say"- The grammatically correct term is "per se"

"ommitted"- The correct spelling is "omitted"

Let's stop here shall we? I just remembered that I am not in fact a teacher and you did not submit any homework to me for assessment.

Regarding your statement that you "KNOW" I "mixed up the pronouns during the exchange."- WOW, you KNOW something, should we all be awestruck over your brilliance? Are the secrets of the universe about to be revealed by the all KNOWing one to us lowly, unwashed masses? Really, a simple "I believe that it may have been Snape that said that instead of Harry" would have been sufficient you supercilious git (sorry Harry, I'm taking the words right out of your mouth sweetie)

The penultimate paragraph was more of the same so I won't even go into it here

You saved the best for last and your last paragraph was also the one I found the most offensive. First was your "suggestion" that I should "brush up" on my "Chinese/Chinese-to-English before trying to take on such a big project"- Yes, I am aware that this is a big project, I understood that it would be time consuming and lengthy when I made a commitment TO MYSELF to take it on. When I start taking money to translate documents containing tens of thousands of words, and when you become the one paying me to perform those translations, then PERHAPS I will give some consideration to your "suggestions". Until that happens (just about when HELL FREEZES OVER) keep your opinions about my language ability or lack thereof to yourself. When someone is spending hours of their own time translating words for others to enjoy FOR FREE an appropriate response would be to either thank them for their effort or at the very least, to REFRAIN FROM INSULTING THEM. In relation to your words "I'm sure there's more mistakes, but I'm too lazy to go through the whole story, letter by letter"- i) I'm not surprised that there are mistakes, I never claimed to be perfect, and given point three above and also the fact that you made another mistake here ("I'm sure there'**s**re more mistakes") I don't think you have much of a leg to stand on, ii) Where did you get the idea that you, or anyone for that matter, should be reading the story letter by letter in order to find mistakes and bring them to my attention? Shouldn't you just be reading the story and enjoying it, seeing as how just at the beginning of your review you told me how you "just get lost in the story more easily"? Do we need to perform another reality check just to make sure? You= Teacher- Negative. Me= Student- Negative. Story= Homework Assignment- Negative.

Let me summarize my response to your review, this translation is something that I am doing in my own time, on my own initiative, for zero remuneration. I am happy to receive reviews, be they commendations or criticisms provided that they are genuine, constructive and/or helpful, but I have no intention of being insulted and condescended to by someone who can't even be bothered to correct and spell-check their own words when they are berating others for their supposed bad grammar and language skills. In the words of many great people (i.e. Fanfiction Authors ; ) ), if you don't like the story, don't read it, nobody is holding you down and forcing you to read the story (at least I hope not), if you find my translation so offensive, please feel free to stop reading it. You have every right to compare my translation to the original Chinese version word for word and line by line so that you can locate every single "mixed up pronoun" or misplaced comma, after all what you do with you time is your business, but kindly keep you findings to yourself as I have no interest in reading the nonsensical, badly spelt words of a supercilious, condescending, downright rude and, dare I say, malicious ignoramus with delusions of grandeur.

The End.

Now that I have finished venting, let us get back to the story. Please enjoy (but only if you want to). ; )

**31-35.**

Voldemort was extremely frustrated, "Harry, please don't take this to heart, those two are not worth your anger."

Harry wanted to laugh it off then say, Oh, it's okay, I didn't hear anything. But his plunging spirits had tightened his face so much that it ached badly and he couldn't even squeeze out a fake smile. How odd, hadn't he already foreseen something of the sort happening? Hadn't he already given up trying to save the muggles? Why was he so upset by this expected event? Was he angry at the Death Eaters for their actions, or at himself for his cowardice, or for losing to Voldemort in the distant future? So he gave up on trying to fake a smile and gave a detached shake of his head, "It's nothing, I didn't hear anything."

"Those two idiots!" Voldemort pulled out his wand but Harry immediately raised his hand to stop him, "I have no intention of reprimanding those two and I don't want you to punish them for their ignorance either."

"I would be more inclined to believe you if your hands were not shaking with rage." Voldemort picked up Harry's trembling hand and Harry violently pulled away.

"I am truly not angry." Harry's voice sounded muffled, as though he was speaking with a rag stuffed in his mouth, "Really, really, not angry." Harry stalked out of the well lit hall and into a guest room.

Voldemort followed, continuing their previous conversation, "They destroyed your good mood."

"And so they should be punished?" Harry mocked, "I didn't know I was that important."

Voldemort tried to embrace Harry but was pushed away. His brows drew to together and he looked defeated, "Harry, of course you are important, you are more important than you could ever imagine."

"Yeah, I am so important, that you must force me to come to Voldemort Manor, then allow two drunks to test the limits of my endurance." Harry wouldn't even look at him.

"Harry, I am very sorry. I didn't think they would start blabbing when they got drunk, nor that you would be forced to hear things you detest." Voldemort was feeling quite helpless, people often could not control what came out of their mouths when they were drunk.

Harry smiled coldly, "I told you this would happen, but you promised that it wouldn't."

"I know that you did not want to attend the ball and I know that I broke my word to you so I understand that you must be very upset right now." Voldemort tried to embrace Harry again and this time he held on tightly, not letting him struggle free, "To make it up to you Harry, you can have whatever you want."

Harry's laughter was soft and filled with so much sorrow that it gave Voldemort a sense of foreboding. "So, to keep my spirits high permanently, my dear, honored uncle, can you "kindly" put a stop to all muggle torture and humiliation activities?"

Harry lifted his head and looked at Voldemort with a challenging sneer.

Voldemort stilled and his arms, which had been tightly wrapped around Harry, loosened. Crimson eyes stared unblinkingly into Harry's emerald pools, as though to determine whether he was speaking in jest. Harry stared unflinchingly back at him, his steady eyes filled with derision.

"No." After long moments, he spoke, "Muggles are filth, they do not deserve to live in this world." This was his defining principle.

"So you don't need to put on a front my dear uncle. Those two have only put into words something that you and I have avoided handling, they are not at fault. My agreeing to come to a Death Eater event meant that I have abandoned my ideals and principles, I'm not even angered by two Death Eaters discussing muggle torture right in front of me, even though that poor woman could have been my family or been related to my family. Why are you angry when I am not, dear uncle?" Harry mocked. He pried apart Voldemort's arms which had become much looser, "I am very tired and would like to go back to my room and rest, please do not disturb me my dear uncle."

Voldemort reached to grab Harry's hand but immediately felt a cold wand tip held against his chin, "You are testing my patience uncle. Don't force me to use _Avada Kedavra_." Harry warned coldly.

After several seconds, Voldemort let go and Harry left.

Bang!

Voldemort's fist hit the wall heavily, freezing everyone in the hall in fear. Damnit, what a screw up!

Entering his room Harry began packing his belongings and preparing to return to Hogwarts. His views were too different to Voldemort's and all the man's gentleness and indulgence could not cover this fact, if a situation like this occurred again, it would likely result in the same problems. He and Voldemort were like two performers walking on a tightrope, trying to balance against each other so they wouldn't fall and the slightest miscalculation could completely shatter their relationship. He had already given up so much, his principles, his ideals and his sense of justice, the only thing he had left was his pitiful, final line of defense, if he didn't have to see it, it would not exist for him. But now, even this line had been crossed. Will he really have to become a Death Eater who would enjoy torturing muggles? Voldemort kept saying that Harry was irreplaceable, then why did he keep making Harry submit, if he was really so important?

[_Harry._] Nagini slithered into Harry's room.

[_Yes, Nagini?_] Harry answered as he continued to stuff his clothes into the trunk.

Nagini moved in front of Harry, amber eyes filled with pleading, [_Don't leave Harry, please! I apologize on behalf of Voldy, please don't leave._]

Harry waved his wand and his school supplies arranged themselves then flew into the trunk. [_Nagini, this is between me and my uncle, it is not something you can resolve for us. If uncle does not decide to change, my staying here would just be a torment._]

Nagini slithered around Harry's legs, it was hard to imagine such a large snake being as careful with him as though he was an infant. [_Harry, if you won't stay for Voldy, please stay for me? I'm very lonely, Voldy is the only one who can talk to me but he is always so busy and he has no time to spend with me. Harry, I have always been good to you, don't hurt me because of Voldy's mistakes. I love you, Harry._]

Harry could not refuse that pair of sad eyes, Nagini and he had gotten along quite well in the last couple of months but the thought of Voldemort made him want to leave so badly. [_Just thinking about being in the same room as him is painful, Nagini._]

[_It's alright Harry_] Seeing that Harry was wavering, Nagini quickly added, [_Voldemort Manor is huge, it would be easy to avoid seeing one person. Please Harry!"_

[_Only if I really won't have to see him._] Harry mumbled.

Nagini was right, Voldemort Manor was huge and it would be quite easy to avoid seeing one person in such a big place, he could easily while away a whole day in some corner, also Nagini was good company.

So it was New Year's Eve.

At nine Harry went downstairs for breakfast and was surprised to see the house elves take away Voldemort's uneaten breakfast from the head of the table.

Harry held his tongue but finally could not help asking Nagini, who was coiled lazily upon the sofa napping. [_Why didn't he eat breakfast?_] Ever since Christmas Harry had only referred to Voldemort as _he _or_ him_.

Nagini yawned, [_It's nothing, he's like this every year. He'll be alright after today._]

[_Every year on this day…?_] Harry was baffled as he repeated, [_What is the matter?_]

Nagini yawned again, [_He is an adult, he can take care of himself. Children should just go play._] She coiled her tail around something then tossed it at Harry.

Harry caught it and found that it was a muggle wallet made of crocodile skin, inside was a thick wad of muggle money. [_What's this?_]

[_It was meant to be a surprise for you. Voldy was going to take you to muggle London on the 26__th__. Something about Dishyland…_] [_Disneyland._] [_To eat some habager…_] [_Hamburger._] [_To see some mobi…_] [_It's movie Nagini._] [_Anyway, it was to have some fun. But you two are fighting and not speaking to each other so he asked me to take you out today, to have a good time._]

Hearing what Nagini had to say, Harry felt like there was something stuck in his throat, rendering him speechless. Voldemort was going to take him to muggle London? To go to Disneyland, have hamburgers, and watch a movie? Nobody would ever believe that something like this could be true. But in some ways, Voldemort was very indulgent with him. It is a shame that the man's ideals differed so much from Harry's, this type of superficial pampering only saddened Harry as it highlighted the underlying truth between them.

There were several items of muggle winter clothing in the closet and Harry chose a pair of jeans, a pale yellow sweater and a large black jacket, putting his wand in a pocket in his pants, he shrank Nagini so that she could fit around his wrist, rather like a bracelet with a diamond shaped pattern.

They flooed to Diagon Alley, went through the Leaky Cauldron, and appeared in muggle London.

London was very crowded on this festive day and the streets were filled with people. Even though Harry had lived through two childhoods, he had never had a chance to walk around in London and could only helplessly rely on a tourist guidebook. This was quite surprising for Nagini, [_Did you really grow up in muggle London?_]

They went to Disneyland first, it was heaven for a child and everywhere there were loving parents leading their happy children.

Nagini regarded all the attractions contemptuously, [_None of these things can compare to the magical world!_], until Harry got on a rollercoaster and her complaints abruptly stopped. To the thrilling rollercoaster ride she could only comment that [_It feel just like Quidditch._]

Due to Nagini's strenuous requests, Harry rode the rollercoaster ten more time, until finally she was satisfied. [_This is great, it feels so exciting! Voldy prefers to apparate so I have almost no idea what flying is like. It would be wonderful if we had something like this at the Manor so that I could enjoy it at anytime._]

[_Then just ask him to build you one._]

For lunch they went to KFC, hamburger, fried chicken, chicken wings, fries, coke, milkshake, the table was covered in food. Harry was not able to eat a lot but a twelve foot snake could put away a lot of food, after eating her way right through all the food on the table Nagini was still only 90% full and wanted Harry to go buy some more, but Harry refused and almost ran out the door. [_We can come back tonight!_] Surely the staff will have changed shifts by then?

Their afternoon itinerary was derailed when Nagini's attention was caught by a screen inside a shop. [_Harry! There are people moving in there! But… but it looks so strange._]

[_This is not the same as the magical world Nagini. They… um… they're not alive, they're just pictures, you can't touch them._]

[_Oh, is it telling a story Harry? Why did it stop before it reached the end?_] Nagini was very disappointed and upset.

[_It's a television drama Nagini. The story is very long and they show it in sections, it seems that today's section is over._]

Nagini was even more disappointed.

Harry spread his hands helplessly, [_There's nothing I can do about it Nagini. There are no television shows in the magical world. We'd have to take a television back with us then connect the antenna magically for you to be able to watch the show._]

Nagini was cheered at that, [_Then we will take a television home with us, you have enough money._]

[_He won't agree to that._] Harry warned. It's bad enough that Voldemort was going to have to build a rollercoaster on the grounds of the Manor, now to add a television? Harry can just picture Voldemort's thunderous expression.

[_Come onnnnnn, pleaseeeeeee, pleaseeeeeee, otherwise I won't be able to sleep at night!_] Nagini writhed and rolled petulantly, looking as though she would not stop until Harry gave in and made the purchase.

Harry could only surrender. [_We'll buy it just before we return in the evening alright? The television will be big and heavy, we can't carry it around with us while we have fun._]

Nagini quickly agreed and Harry was relieved, however when he went to depart for the next item on their itinerary-

[_Harry, Harry, what is that?_] Nagini was so excited even her voice had changed pitch.

Harry looked in the direction of Nagini's highly quirked tail, [_Oh, a movie theatre._]

[_Movie theatre? What's it for?_]

[_For showing movies. Movies tell a story, but the stories are shorter than television shows and there are more topics. You are not allowed to ask me to take a movie theatre home Nagini, I refuse, I don't want to be murdered by Him._] Seeing the stars in Nagini's eyes, Harry quickly tried to stop the idea in its tracks.

Nagini hissed slyly, [_I only wanted to watch a movie._]

If only it was so simple, Harry thought despairingly.

Final, just as he had expected, Nagini demanded more after leaving the theatre, so Harry ended up buying a video tape player as well as countless movies. By this time Harry was wondering whether it was Nagini accompanying Harry on trip or if it was the other way around.

By the time it got dark and Harry had made his way back to Diagon Alley with two shopping bags filled with shrunken items, a carriage from Voldemort Manor was waiting for them.

On arrival at the Manor, Harry directed the house elves to put Nagini's things into her own room and make the necessary magical connections while he picked up the bag from KFC and went to Voldemort's study where he put the bag on the ground then knocked stiffly on the door.

Harry had no intention of seeing Voldemort and almost immediately turned around to go back the way he came. However, the study door still had not opened by the time he reached the end of the hallway. Harry had already ascertained Voldemort's location by asking the house elves so he was puzzled at the lack of response. He finally stopped and belatedly began to notice the strangeness of the whole situation. Today was New Year's Eve, it was meant to be a joyous occasion but the Manor was cold and still and the house elves were walking on eggshells and acting even more cautious than usual, Voldemort did not eat breakfast and the house elves had just informed him that he did not eat lunch or dinner either. He had had just as much free time in the last few days, so why did he have Nagini take him out today of all days? It seemed like he had purposely sent Harry out to keep him away. Looking at the tightly shut door, Harry had a sudden alarming thought, had something happened to Voldemort?

Even though Harry knew that it was unlike, given that if something HAD happened to Voldemort, the Manor would not have been so quiet. After all, Voldemort was a very strong wizard, what could have happened? But the thought would not leave his mind and unease spread like wildfire, he knows that Voldemort likes to research dark magic, dark magic can rapidly increase a wizard's power but the side effects were also severe. Voldemort's pride would not allow him to show any signs of weakness and he could be suffering unspeakable pain alone. The thought that Voldemort could be lying in bed, in so much pain that he could not even eat, made Harry's heart feel as heavy as lead, the happiness from spending a whole day in muggle London bled away and was replaced by concern for that man. Even though that man was hateful and Harry felt that he could not communicate with him, that could not wipe out the fact that he had been good to Harry in the last two months, it had felt like he was spending time with family, a little like the way Sirius made him feel (of course, Harry would never have admitted to these feelings a couple of days ago), he couldn't walk away, knowing that the man was suffering alone.

Open sesame.

Apart from the doorway, the room was in darkness and the cold, damp air made Harry shiver. All the curtains were closed, plunging the room into total darkness and only a single curtain was open over a window deep inside the study, the silver light of the moon cast a luminous shadow. Voldemort was sitting on the sofa, his face half turned away, staring blankly at the night sky outside the window. The handsome face shone silver in the pale moonlight and crimson eyes glittered as though filled with tears. The night imbued him with unmatched majesty and the moonlight complemented his natural elegance, just sitting there he was heart stopping. Harry had the sudden feeling that he was looking at the fairest angel, Lucifer, beautiful but fallen.

A voice called out, "Are you alright?" After a while Harry realized that it was his own voice.

Voldemort turned around and his stunning gaze robbed Harry of thought. Then, "I am fine, everything will be alright tomorrow. You may leave."

"But you haven't eaten all day." Harry said softly.

The smile he showed was filled with more sorrow than a weeping face. "I am not hungry."

"I'd have to be a fool to believe that!" Harry stalked up to Voldemort then threw the paper bag into his lap, "A present. I will leave after you finish eating, I don't want to see you either." After speaking he pulled over a sofa so that it was facing Voldemort, then sat down and crossed his legs. He hadn't wanted to behave like that, after all this was not the best way to convince someone to eat, but the man's sorrowful smile offended him so much, it was like Voldemort had lost his soul and he was looking at a soulless corpse. How could a smile be so lonely and depressed, as though all hope, even that for survival, had been abandoned? That kind of smile belonged to the Harry Potter who was living with the Dursleys and uncle Vernon! As Harry's mood worsened, he tone grew more hateful.

Voldemort lowered his eyes and slender, pale fingers slowly opened the paper bag and pulled out a chicken wing, promptly putting it into his mouth. He hated muggles, hated muggle food, especially the type that looked completely bereft of nutritional value, but Harry had commanded that he "eat it", it was a command spoken by Harry, who had not spoken to him in four days, even if what had been put into his hand was bubotuber pus, he would have swallowed it without hesitation. He never thought that Harry would bring something back for him, even on the slim chance that Harry had brought him something he had thought that at most he would have left it at the door. Because Harry had been so angry in the past four days, so angry that he couldn't even bear to look at him. But Harry had come in, when he heard Harry's footsteps and his caring words, his heart melted. Was there anyone kinder and more gentle than his angel? The concern Harry unconsciously exuded was enough to melt the hardest heart. But no matter how moved he felt, he could not let Harry see him when he was weak, he did not want to damage his image in Harry's mind as a power, knowledgeable, calm and shrewd wizard, he didn't want Harry to know that in reality he was a man who didn't even have the courage to face the circumstances of his own birth. He wanted Harry to leave, but Harry stayed, sitting in front of him, ordering him to eat, and looking at him in such a challenging and arrogant way. Oh, his little angel, the semblance of arrogance in his eyes could not cover his true emotions, the flash of worry in his eyes had betrayed him.

Voldemort gravely ate everything inside the paper bag: chicken wings, chicken nuggets, hamburger, coke, vegetable broth, Harry was very satisfied with his compliance. "I thought you were ill, I guess I was wrong."

"I'm like this every year, Nagini and the others are used to it, you will be too." Voldemort was once again buried in dark thoughts.

Those seem to be unpleasant memories, Harry thought. He should leave, he was only torturing himself and Harry wouldn't interrupt his strange pastime. But before he left, there was something he wanted to say, "It's stupid to suffer alone, it makes everything more painful. Find someone you trust and tell them about your pain and your sorrows will be halved." That was what he had done in the past and it had served him well. He thought that Nagini would be happy to share Voldemort's burdens.

He stood but his right hand was grabbed by a strong but bony hand, "Don't leave Harry."

Voldemort's hand was like ice and the chill reached right into Harry's heart. He had focused on Voldemort's expression and not noticed that there was no fire nor warming charms in the room, Voldemort was only wearing a shirt and no jacket. Had he been sitting here dressed like that? Merlin! The man did not know how to take care of himself!

Pulling his hand out, Harry took out his wand and lit the fire, then he cast five warming charms and the room began to warm up. After doing this Harry was finally in the mood to mock the man, "I don't have the time to sit in a freezing room with you and watch the moon for fun, I still have a pile of homework to finish."

The man looked at him, his eyes filled with sorrow.

Harry felt a headache blooming, why was the man looking at him like that, as though he had been hurting him, Merlin! He hadn't done anything!

Slumping back into the sofa, Harry surrendered, "What are you thinking about?"

The man's face again grew shadowed. "Today is my birthday." He said softly.

"Oh? Happy Birthday." Harry generously smiled. The man was obviously barmy to be so depressed on his own birthday.

"My mother's name was Merope Gaunt. She was a descendant of the esteemed Salazar Slytherin. But she died one hour after giving birth to me, she only had time to name me Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Harry listened silently. It was obvious that Voldemort was taking his advice and using him as a psychological dumping ground. This frustrated him a little, he and Voldemort were quarrelling, why did he have to stay and listen to Voldemort's anguish. Especially as he already knew this story!"

"Tom Riddle was my father's name. Marvolo my grandfather's, she wanted me to look like my father. Apart from that, she left me with nothing. If she was a muggle, dying because she was unable to bear the rigors of birthing, I could have accepted that. But she was a witch, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, a child of the Gaunts! But she was so weak that she abandoned her own life, like a muggle, besmirching the strength, courage, honor and pride of her father!"

Strength? Courage? Honor? Pride? Of that crackpot Marvolo Gaunt? Harry sneered out of sight of Voldemort.

"And her reason for abandoning her own life was because she fell in love with a muggle, Tom Riddle, who abandoned her, taking away her courage and conviction to live. She couldn't even live for me, her own child, her own flesh and blood. She abandoned me for that muggle, she left me at an orphanage because of that muggle, she even gave me that muggle name and hoped that I looked just like that muggle, what a joke!" Voldemort was laughing, but Harry would rather that he throw a tantrum instead.

"So I hated her. I hated that her weakness and selfishness cost me my mother, hated that she cost me a mother's love, hated that she threw me in an orphanage so that I had to grow up alone, hated that she had been stupid enough to soil her own ancient, exalted bloodline with filthy muggle blood by falling in love—when I was little, I even thought that my birth was a mistake, when I learned the truth I was even more convinced, for if I even had a modicum of worth, why would that woman have abandoned me because of a muggle?" Voldemort howled like a wounded beast, his refined features twisted with the strength of his emotions.

"Yes, as a mother, she was frightfully weak." Harry agreed with Voldemort's statements. Compared to Lily, who would give her life for Harry in the future, Merope Gaunt's weakness did make it hard to pity her. Having seen how Voldemort was bullied when he was a child, Harry could understand Voldemort's hatred for Merope, even Harry himself, before he learned the truth, had hated his parents for leaving him alone after the car crash, it would have been better if they had died together, better than living in torment. Especially as Merope Gaunt had deliberately abandoned her son, she had been so weak she did not want to live with her son, this must have been a bigger blow to Voldemort than the fact that his father was a muggle.

Raking his hair in frustration, his thoughts all in a jumble, a bittersweet feeling started to grow inside him, sitting heavily in his heart. Of those who had never experienced the warmth of a family, some would grew up treasuring it all the more and others would grow up wanting to destroy the world. Harry belonged to the former and Voldemort obviously belonged to the latter. But the wounds left from those years of damage are the same for both of them. They would not fade with the passage of time, nor would they lessen with future successes, the blood carved into the childhood years forever remains as bright red as the day it was spilled and the sight of it was heartbreaking. Harry couldn't help walking up to Voldemort and putting his arms around him. He had not known that this man had a fragile side. Because of Merope Gaunt Voldemort was depressed and miserable on his own birthday, continuing to torture himself on this date every year. In truth he longed for his mother and wished that she was still by his side, although his words were filled with hatred, as deep was his hatred was, it was matched by the depth of his love. Because Merope Gaunt had given him life, had given him his exalted bloodline, had given him his rare and unmatched magical potential. In truth this man yearned for love.

Incredulously, Voldemort slowly lifted his arms and softly returned Harry's embrace, it was only when his hands touched Harry's jacket and his ear heard the beating of Harry's heart that he was convince that he was not dreaming, Harry was really hugging him! He fingers trembled with tension and his arms filled with strength, tighter and tighter he held Harry in his arms, until Harry's sharp little chin dug into his collarbone and his delicate and slender body was plastered to his own. He could feel the warmth of Harry's skin under that jacket, could feel the rhythmic beating of Harry's heart, a rush of warmth spread all over his body from where it was touching Harry's, finally flowing into his long frozen heart, warming it, softening it, giving it heat for the first time in his life.

His Harry!

Voldemort could never imagine that a simple embrace could make him want to weep. His mother had given up on him, his father had abandoned him, everyone at the orphanage had hated him, at Hogwarts, those of Slytherin house were filled with deception and power games, the self-righteous light despised him and the Death Eaters feared him, no one had wanted to hold him, only Harry. Only Harry, from the beginning to the present, only Harry.

Yes, nothing else was important, because he had Harry.

Recovering from his agitation, Voldemort pulled Harry into his lap and rearranged their position so that Harry could sit comfortably, he will tell him everything, then he will bid farewell to the past, he will no longer agonize over that woman and that man, because he now had someone to treasure.

To Harry, Voldemort's tone as he discussed Tom Riddle was eerily calm, as thought he was speaking about someone insignificant, even though his words themselves were indicative of strong emotions, this was both puzzling and surprising to him.

"I hated that muggle. That his filthy blood could be mixed with the exalted Gaunts or Salazar Slytherin should have been an honor, but he ran away, abandoning his pregnant wife and unborn child to destitution and poverty to return to his home to live his life of privilege. Only the filthiest of words could adequately describe that man."

This is probably the root of Voldemort's hatred of muggles, Harry thought.

Perhaps because he had already vented much of his emotions, Voldemort's mood had grown much lighter and he waved his hand as though dispersing some insects, "So when I grew older, I threw away the name "Tom Riddle", and for a while, the face that resembled him." If it wasn't for—he looked at Harry, if it wasn't for fear of frightening Harry, he would not have kept the face that reminded him of that hated muggle.

"Is that why you can never accept muggles?" Harry quietly, yet despairingly, asked. He could no longer hope that Voldemort would at least spare the best muggles and muggleborns.

The man lovingly caressed his hair, the black strands were as soft as the best silk. After four days of silence, the man had solemnly reconsidered many of his own principles, if he continued in the same vein, the day he conquered the world would the day that Harry left him. On the issue of muggles, they were on the opposite ends of the spectrum and one of them must make a concession. With Harry's gentle and compassionate nature, asking him to abandon the muggles could result in him abandoning himself, but not destroying the muggles would not have as much of an impact on Voldemort. He believes muggles are powerless worms and that destroying them would cleanse the world, but he could also keep them like pets or livestock rather than destroy them.

"You like muggles Harry. If I kill them all, you would leave me."

Although Voldemort's choice of words made Harry feel a little self-conscious and strange, that was not the point, the point was—"Does that mean, you'll keep the muggles around?" Harry could not believe his own ears, is that what Voldemort was assuring him?

Voldemort lowered his head and kissed Harry smooth, tender cheek, his nose filling with the scent of lilies, "Even if those creatures are disgusting, I will put up with them." Seeing the expression of the boy in his arms getting clearer and clearer, he made another concession, "If a muggle is truly worthy, I would be willing to give them a better job."

Harry was on the verge of jumping with elation.

"Don't get too excited, my views have not changed. Purebloods are exalted, important, they should stand at the top of society, those halfbloods can only be second tier, with mudbloods in the third tier, and muggles, well, they can only be at the lowest level of society." Voldemort's mouth was twisted in cruelty, "That aren't enough purebloods in the magical world, prevalent inbreeding unavoidably results in some useless offspring, like my mother, that kind of person should not exist. Perhaps muggles could be of some use in this, as breeding apparatus."

Harry shuddered as he closed his eyes, helplessly leaning into Voldemort's embrace. At least the muggle will still have the right to live. Neither he nor Voldemort could turn back now.

**36-42.**

The next day was New Year's Day and it was filled with activity.

Nagini was watching the television in the living room on the first floor first thing in the morning and Voldemort was not pleased, however, given that it was New Year's Day after all, he let it go. He charmed the television and tape player so that the pictures in the television jumped out of the screen, so that it affected everything from sight to smell to hearing to taste and to touch. The effect was quite good, and Voldemort would occasionally be heard to comment, "idiotic drama!", "how could he do that to her?", at least the house elves had plenty of reason to sneak glances into the room.

Nagini was the epitome of "give an inch, take a mile" and demanded that Voldemort build a rollercoaster on the grounds of the Manor. Voldemort, of course, refused and Nagini rolled around on the ground in a tantrum. Imagine, a twelve foot snake rolling around petulantly! What a horrifying sight! Harry felt goose bumps break out all over his body. Voldemort lasted for over ten minutes but finally gave up and built an impossibly tall rollercoaster on the grass.

The remaining time of the holidays was spent peacefully and cozily at the Voldemort Manor, everyday Harry would ride the rollercoaster with Nagini and watch television. His relationship with Voldemort became much more intimate after the deep emotional exchanges of New Year's Eve.

At the end of the holidays, Harry happily returned to the school and immediately went in search of Snape. Snape was in the Room of Requirements, staring intently at a cauldron. The first thing Harry saw was his greasy hair.

"Merlin! Severus, how long has it been since you've bathed?" Harry yelled sharply. The unhygienic git!

Displeased with the yelling, Snape glared viciously at Harry, then meticulously added three porcupine quills to the wine red potion in the cauldron before separately added the fairy dust. "Be quiet! Wait until I have finished the potion."

Oh! Snape was merciless when he was brewing. Harry suspected that even if Voldemort was to interrupt Snape while he was brewing, he would be berated to within an inch of his life.

Harry patiently waited, and waited, until Snape finally finished. He stared intently as Snape ladled the wolfsbane potion into a crystal vial and put it next to eleven other vials.

"When are you going to give it to Lupin?"

Snape looked troubled, "I don't know what name to use when sending it."

"Just make one up." Harry rolled his eyes.

Snape hesitated, "How about the Halfblood Prince? My mother was a Prince."

"Very good!" Harry agreed loudly. "Hidden meaning."

Upon Harry's agreement Snape picked up the quill in his left hand and started to write, but his usually derisive manner meant that he did not know how to convey his feelings to Remus in a tranquil and warm way, after the tenth attempt was rejected by Harry, he had no choice but to let Harry draft the letter. Then they went back to the dorm room to bathe before making their way to the owlery, attaching the two securely packed parcels to the owls' legs, then asking them to deliver them to Remus in Gryffindor tower.

Each crystal vial held 100 ml, which was five doses, enough to last Remus one month. Which meant Remus would not have to worry about his transformations for a whole year.

Remus was alone in the dorm room, reading, when the two owls flew in to deliver the two parcels. He hesitantly pulled off the note, folded in the shape of a crane and stuck to the parcel, and opened it.

_Dear Remus Lupin,_

_I understand that you have a furry little problem. This potion may be able to help resolve some of your concerns. Starting four days before the full month, drink 20 ml of this potion, once each day and you will be able to completely escape the bloodlust and quietly rest in your room._

_P.S. Please heat up the potion before you drink it._

_Yours,_

_The Halfblood Prince_

Remus was thunderstruck and his thoughts were a blank. Who was the Halfblood Prince? How did he know his secret? Why send him the potion? There is no cure for lycanthropy, at least not at this time, and no potion can control the bloodlust that comes after transformation, otherwise the creator of this potion would receive an Order of Merlin, First Class to reward his incredible contribution to the magical world.

On the one hand he doubted the words on the missive but on the other hand his hand kept reaching for the two parcels. Each parcel was wrapped carefully with layers of leather, over five centimeters thick in total, ensuring that the contents remain undamaged. There were no markings on the leather or the wooden box, Remus could find no clue whatsoever as to the identity of the sender. He opened the box with shaking hands to find six dark green, transparent crystal vials in each box, the silver stopper of each vial was set with costly opals. The volume, 100ml, was etched into the side of the bottle.

"Remus, who sent you a potion?" James had finished Quidditch practice and had returned with Sirius and Peter.

Relieved, Remus passed the parchment to them.

Sirius was jumping in rage before he had even finished reading the letter. "This is a trap! It's got to be a trap! There is no potion that can tame the bloodlust of a transformed werewolf, this is a fact in the magical world!" He suddenly realized, "It has to be Harry Potter, he knows our secret, so he's trying to trick us with this potion!"

James picked up one of the vials to better examine it, "Well, from the vial, it does appear to be the work of a Slytherin, look at how extravagant it is. I don't doubt that the new Harry Potter has enough money to play stupid games with us. But Sirius, I don't agree that this is a trap. According to the letter, each bottle is sufficient to cover one-month, twelve bottles is enough to cover a full year, if someone wanted to toy with us, or to make Remus leave Hogwarts, he wouldn't need to send that many bottles all at once, two or three would have been enough. I don't believe that Slytherins would have the patience to brew that many potions just for fun. They're most devoted to putting their time into things that are most representative of their values, like, sex."

"Maybe they're doing something different this time, Harry Potter isn't your typical Slytherin after all." Sirius was still dubious.

James smiled lightly and ignored him, turning to Remus, he said, "I believe we can go to Professor Dumbledore and ask him to have Professor Slughorn test the potion to see if it can really do what the letter says. If not, we can throw them out then find out who would dare to play games with something that is this painful for you and I'll tear that person apart, if so, then it's good news for you, Remus."

This plan was unanimously accepted. So they explained the situation to Professor McGonagall and she immediately brought them to Dumbledore's office.

After hearing Remus' explanation, Dumbledore examined one of the vials then opened the stopper to smell the potion, finally, "Well, at least we know the name of the potion." He said, turning the stopper around to show them the word "wolfsbane" carved into the base of the stopper.

"Alright, let us ask Professor Slughorn to come and help us, after all, this is his area of expertise. Hopefully he can shed light on the function of these twelve vials of potion, we don't have that much time until "four days prior to the full moon"."

In the morning, four days prior to the full moon, after double potions, Professor Slughorn returned the twelve vials of potions to Remus, smiling widely, he congratulated him, "Obviously, you have a very good friend somewhere out there, Mr. Lupin, a genius of a good friend. This wolfsbane potion will definitely be able to curb your bloodlust during the full moon, so that you can sleep peacefully after the transformation. At present, this is the best way to minimize the threat of the werewolf, I'm afraid that it may also be the only long-term solution, that is, if this potions prodigy would be willing to publish the recipe and the brewing process. An incredible method, prodigious concept, and impeccable combination of ingredients! I would love to meet this Halfblood Prince to see what kind of person could come up with such a wonderful potion!" He patted Remus' shoulder, "You are indeed a lucky boy Mr. Lupin. Others are not as fortunate."

Towards the end of the speech Remus wasn't very sure what Professor Slughorn was going on about, he only knew that he would not have to agonize over his condition in the next year!

"So, who's the halfblood prince?" Peter couldn't help being curious. But even after wracking their brains, the four did not have an answer.

Due to Professor Slughorn's habit of boasting, the news of the potion quickly spread amongst the teachers of Hogwarts, At first Voldemort took no notice, but upon hearing the familiar list of potions ingredients, he began to realize some things.

Snape was called into his office.

"Professor Voldemort, you summoned me?"

"Sit, Severus." Voldemort said, "There is something I must ask you. Did you make the wolfsbane potion?"

Snape froze and tried to maintain a calm façade. "No, I did not."

But his panicked reaction had not escaped Voldemort and he laughed, "Oh how the children have grown, there are some things that adults should not interfere in. Relax, Severus, I have no intention of reprimanding you over this matter. You have always been prudent."

Snape asked carefully, "You… are not angry?"

Voldemort magnanimously waved his hand, "There's nothing to be angry about. You know how far you may go and you have not done anything displeasing, why should I be angry?"

Seeing that Voldemort truly was not upset, nor did he appear to be concealing feelings of rage, Snape's tightened nerves relaxed and he slumped into the chair.

"However Severus, given that I am allowing you to help the werewolf, I would like you to do something for me." Voldemort continued.

Snape straightened immediately, "Professor, your wish is my comment."

"I want the recipe and brewing process of the wolfsbane potion." Voldemort commanded.

Snape frowned, that was easier said than done, "Professor, it's not that I am unwilling, but… the recipe was not invented by me, it was given to me by Harry. I cannot disclose it to you without his permission."

A spark of interest flashed in Voldemort's eyes. Harry had invented the wolfsbane potion, how surprising that he could come up with such an ingenious idea, he was a true descendant of Salazar Slytherin. He truly wanted to know what other treasures lay inside that fascinating little head of his. However, this could be a bit of a problem.

"Don't worry about that, I will speak with Harry."

"Professor, I am sure that Harry would be willing to share this information with you." Snape took his word seriously, he cannot reveal this information to a third party without obtaining Harry's permission.

Voldemort whipped out his wand and pointed it at Snape's forehead. "Severus, you don't want to force me to use _legilimens _on you. You poor occlumency shields could not withstand my invasion." He narrowed his eyes, "So, you will give me the recipe and the brewing process and allow me to deal with Harry."

Knowing that he would have no chance against Voldemort, Snape submitted, he was a loyal servant to Voldemort, and Harry also belonged to Voldemort. In all of Slytherin, it was only Harry himself who was blind to Voldemort's determination to have him.

Satisfied, Voldemort sent the copy of the recipe and brewing instructions away with an owl, "Let's go Severus, I shall go explain the matter to Harry."

Harry looked at Voldemort suspiciously, not at all believing what the man was saying. "You're saying you want to make the wolfsbane potion and sell it to werewolves?"

"Yes." Voldemort smiled, sliding his fingers through Harry's luxuriant, short hair and giving it a soft kiss. "There are a goodly number of werewolves in the world, they aren't too numerous but they're not on the verge of extinction either, a number of these people do not want to live with the bloodlust that comes with the transformation each month. The sale of this potion would generate a huge income."

Harry had no doubt about that, if only Voldemort's purpose was as simple as that.

"You could have come to me, why did you have to get it off Severus? You even threatened him."

Voldemort shamelessly answered, "I thought you would not agree with my plan to sell the wolfsbane potion for profit, and I believe that as your uncle it is my duty to make sure that you receive the fruits for your labor."

"I hadn't realized that you had such financial acumen."

"Well now you know." Voldemort's smile was fake.

"How much are you going to sell it for?" Harry gave up on trying to needle Voldemort, really, he was stunned by the man's shamelessness.

"50 galleons for each 100ml dose, very fair."

Bugger that! 100ml of wolfsbane only costs 10 galleons to make, this git was marking the price up by 400%! For a one month dose!

"Aren't you pricing this a little too steeply?"

Voldemort lightly shook his finger, "Not at all. The ingredients for the wolfsbane potion are not easy to obtain and the brewing process is both lengthy and complicated, I might as well just publish the recipe if I price it any lower."

"And you're not worried that I would publish the recipe?" Harry ground his teeth.

Voldemort slyly listed a string of numbers, "For each dose of wolfsbane, Severus will receive 3% as payment, that is 0.15 galleons; for 100 doses, Severus will receive 15 galleons; for 10,000 doses, that will be 1,500 galleons. The more wolfsbane sells the richer Severus will be. Harry, you don't want to cut into Severus' profit do you?"

Git, using Snape against him! Harry glared at Voldemort with annoyance, wanting nothing more than to poke him full of holes.

"You aren't going to deliberately turn more people into werewolves to increase wolfsbane sales?" Harry once again capitulated.

"Harry, you're insulting my character." Voldemort's eyes widened with indignation.

"I'm sorry." Harry apologized easily but insincerely, at least Voldemort didn't think Harry was insulting his intelligence.

"No matter, I know you didn't mean it." Voldemort hugged Harry to demonstrate his forgiveness. The current werewolf population was sufficient.

After Voldemort left, Snape asked Harry, "Is the Professor going to use the potion to control any unruly werewolves?"

Harry smiled coldly. "I'm more interested in knowing which group of werewolves he will be trying to control with the potion and when." Then he grabbed some parchment and a quill, "Severus, quickly, write to Lupin, tell him that you will always supply him with the wolfsbane potion for free, don't let him go and buy any. Voldemort can control all the werewolves if he wants, but Remus won't be one of them."

Remus received another letter from the halfblood prince.

_Dear Remus Lupin,_

_The recipe has been taken from me by force, wolfsbane will be sold at an elevated price in future. Please do not purchase any, I will always supply it to you for free._

_With love,_

_The Halfblood Prince_

Sirius let out a whistle, "Our little Remus has a very devoted admirer."

"Shut up, Sirius!" Remus shot back, But his face flushed, this halfblood prince that he had never met but who treated him so considerately in every way had already won his affection.

The following days were calm. On Valentine's Day the Slytherin table was overflowing with gifts and cards sent to harry, more than those sent to the usually more popular Sirius.

In the following Quidditch match, Gryffinor defeated Slytherin, James caught the snitch, 300:150.

During the Easter holidays Harry returned to Voldemort Manor, watching television again after a long break, riding the rollercoaster and visiting muggle London, despite a crushing amount of homework. Voldemort was rarely around during the holiday, leaving early in the morning and returning late at night, however, he still put aside sufficient time to spend with Harry, both helping him deal with homework and instructing him on his magic.

After the holidays, students returned to Hogwarts, the heavy homework load was the cause of much mutual complaint. But within several hours their complaints faded away, as the common rooms were filled with various pamphlets, flyers and notices about various positions in the Ministry of Magic, memos on various employment consultations and counselling were also posted on the notice boards inside each common room.

The Gryffindor tower was filled with anxiety and confusion but the Slytherin common room was, as usual, very quiet. Usual topics discussed during consultations are as follows"

"My father said that I should go into the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, that that place is more important."

"My grandfather told me that control of Gringotts is very important, so I must make a better study of the greedy goblins in Care of Magical Creatures."

"Severus, what do you want to do?" Harry asked as he waved the handbook about the wizarding bank that he was holding.

Snape rolled his eyes and said with a smirk, "I haven't thought about it. Maybe I won't work, lord knows how much money the wolfsbane potion is going to make me." He had turned down this money many times, but Harry had coerced him into accepting it.

Harry threw aside the handbook in boredom, "A man should still have a job, it would sound better. You could be a potions master at Voldy's potion company?" Harry suggested lightly.

Snape considered the idea seriously, "No, I'm more interested in being the DADA teacher after Professor Voldemort leaves." He had a premonition that that day was not far away.

"That would be good too." Harry agreed.

"Muggle Liaison Office. Your target." Lucius placed a pink and orange flyer on the table, "Personally, I think you should change you target, Professor Voldemort can get you into a more powerful position."

Harry smiled non-committally. "Lucius, what are you going to do after you graduate?"

Lucius gave a confident smile, "Magical Law Enforcement, starting as an Assistant Officer. My target is the Wizengamot."

"I believe you can do it." Harry's smile was quite toothy.

"That's why I decided to keep clear of the Ministry." After Lucius left, Harry said to Snape, "I'm going to walk a middle path."

Snape picked up the flyer that he was reading, that of a healer of St Mungos, in bafflement.

"A St Mungos Healer?" Voldemort was surprised by Harry's choice, "But that's a very exhausting job, I'd rather you choose the Muggle Liaison Office."

"I've made my decision Voldy." Harry said evenly.

"Harry, please reconsider—"

"Professor Voldemort, I am sitting here so that you can give me employment counseling, if you cannot complete this task I will have to go to other heads of house for assistance." Harry impatiently interrupted Voldemort.

"…" Voldemort was speechless. After half a year, he understood Harry's nature, once he made his decision, no one could make him deviate even a little, not even Voldemort.

"Alright, let's talk about St Mungos Healers. To qualify, you need five NEWTs, each must at minimum be an E. The five NEWTs are Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and DADA. But that is not all," Voldemort had slipped back into teacher mode, giving a concise explanation, "There are also many hidden requirements. You would usually need one O from Potions and Herbology, the same for Transfiguration, Charms and DADA, but these rank behind Potions and Herbology, sometimes the recruiters believe one O is sufficient and sometimes they require two Os. This means that there must at least be one O in the five NEWTs, two is more likely. As Healers not only need to heal patients physically but also mentally, to become a St Mungos Healer all your NEWT results must be no lower than an A, apart from those five NEWTs, there must be two other Es. Of course, to receive a NEWT test score you must first qualify for the NEWT tests, that means joining the sixth year NEWT classes. My DADA NEWT class requires an E, same for Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and Herbology. Professor Kettleburn of Care of Magical Creatures requires an O, Professor Binns of History of Magic only requires an A, Professor Wright of Astronomy requires an O, and Professor Pierce of Muggle Studies requires an E." Voldemort paused, then continued, "That is to say, to become a St Mungos Healer, at a minimum, you must have five Es and one A in your OWLs and two Os and five Es in your NEWTs."

Harry shrugged, "Understood." It was a position with heavy responsibilities after all.

In the beginning of May, the Quidditch cup concluded. Gryffindor won the cup for a fourth time with victories in all three of their matches. Harry's face was as dark as Voldemort's. He had an urge to replace Lucius as seeker, he found the sight of James Potter kissing the Quidditch cup and the contemptuous glance he threw at Slytherin house unbearable.

Due to the OWLs, as Harry had experienced before, the black market amongst the students was prospering, even in Slytherin house. Because students in the house were, on average more affluent, the amount of Pepper Up, wakefulness and mind clearing potions purchased was especially high, many people had suggested that Harry should buy some, "They work great!" Harry just smiled. He hadn't forgotten what Hermione had uncovered that year in his past. Luckily Voldemort and Snape had given him enough potions, and they worked better than those the black market boasted.

On the first Sunday in June, the OWLs examiners from the Wizarding Examination Authority came to Hogwarts. Harry recognized both Professor Marchbanks and Professor Tofty, who Harry had had as examiners before, Harry liked both elderly professors very much.

That night, Harry couldn't help visiting Voldemort. On the double sofa in the bedroom, Voldemort tenderly held Harry and related his own OWLs experiences. "Don't be nervous, be calm and perform at your usual levels and you will be alright Harry. You are already beyond OWL level so don't worry, nine Os will be no trouble."

On Monday morning, Harry was filled with anxiety. He knows he's already taken the OWLs once, right? He shouldn't be feeling anxious. But who said that you can't feel anxiety despite having previous experience? Right? Right? Damnit, thinking about it and actually doing it are completely different things!

Luckily the examinations went smoothly, even Harry's worst subject, Magical History was completed to his satisfaction and Harry finished his astronomy exam within half the allotted time. After the exams, Harry decided that he should really thank Voldemort properly for his tutoring in the last six months. But the thing that pleased him the most was that, Snape's worst memory in the other future did not materialize, since that meeting at Hogsmeade James had stayed away from Snape and Harry.

The final exam was the practical for DADA, this subject was Harry's best and coincidentally, his examiner was once again Professor Tofty. _Wingarium Leviosa_, _Ridikulus_, etc., etc., Harry completed them with ease and Professor Tofty nodded and smiled as he watched.

But Lily was not so fortunate. Her examiner was an extravagantly dressed and aristocratic gentleman with not a hair out of place and a well groomed beard, all this denoted that the gentleman was a wizard of stern and austere nature. This by itself was not so bad, the worst issue was that this examiner disliked muggles. Lily came in after Harry and Professor Benedict's face stiffened the moment he saw her and he bellowed, "What's a muggle doing taking OWLs!" Drawing the attention of everyone in the room to he and Lily. Lily froze for moment, then recovered and smiled sweetly. Professor Tofty sighed softly, "What a nice girl."

Lily's nightmare had only just begun, Professor Benedict was unhappy with anything she demonstrated and by the end even Lily was doubting her own abilities.

"Well, my dear Ms Muggle, what would you do if this happens?" Benedict waved his wand and a tall, skeletal figure clad in a cloak started to appear behind Lily, it's face was hidden deep within the cowl of the cloak and a thin arm that appeared as though it was rotting quickly stretched towards Lily, the entire room felt like it had been plunged into an icy abyss.

Professor Tofty was both shocked and enraged, "Benedict, how dare you!" He pulled out his wand and was about to assist Lily, but someone beat him to it.

"_Expecto Patronum_" Harry reflexively yelled, not needing to dredge up any happy memories, it was not enough to only be able to summon a Patronus when one was happy.

A silver white mist shot out of the tip of Harry's wand and coalesced into the shape of huge, coiled cobra, it's head was raised and it's jaws were wide open, displaying its poisonous fangs, and it stood proudly in front of the frightened Lily, who was sitting on the floor after she had fallen earlier in fright.

The Dementor retreated, then disappeared and the silver white cobra also became misty before the mist also dissipated.

The hall was completely silent. Harry was taken aback, his Patronus had changed from a stag to a snake? He knew that Tonks' Patronus had changed when she had fallen in love with Remus. But Harry wasn't in love, he just wanted to quietly and peacefully accomplish the goals that he had set when he came to this time, how had his Patronus changed? He wasn't however going to ask Voldemort about this topic, his Patronus was the most private corner of his heart, he didn't want to share it with Voldemort.

Although troubled by this unexplained mystery, he had not forgotten Lily. He was not surprised to find that she was trembling all over when he helped her stand. He pulled out a piece of chocolate and handed it to Lily, "Eat this, it'll make you feel better." She silently accepted and ate the chocolate, "Think about happy things Lily, the Dementors fear human happiness. Don't be afraid, those things have weaknesses too."

The girl lifted her head, her eyes filled with tears.

Suddenly there was the sound of applause, everyone in the hall was clapping. Professor Tofty offered praise in his aged, quavering voice, "A perfect corporeal Patronus and perfect gentlemanly behavior worthy of a noble, Harry Potter, you have done very well!"

Professor Benedict's smile was wide and his tone warm and caring, like a benevolent parental figure, "A worthy descendant of Salazar Slytherin, such commendable magical strength!"

"Thank you for your high praise Professor Benedict." Harry appeared very respectful, if this stern professor was fond of him, maybe he could do something about the situation. "I am deeply honored by your words. Respected sir, if you could generously offer this young lady another chance, I am sure that you would find that her magical ability is quite adequate."

His mood much improved at hearing Harry's respectful words, Benedict granted his request, "Ms Evans, given Mr Harry Potter's suggestion, I will give you another chance."

"You sir, are both generous and gracious." Harry hurriedly praised him again.

After the exams ended, the incident spread throughout the school like wildfire. Female student mobbed Lily, persistently asking here to recount the details, "Did Harry Potter really summon a patronus? A corporeal patronus?" "Did he really help you up? And give you chocolate, and comfort you?" On receiving Lily's confirmation, all the female students sighed, "Oh Lily, if only it had been me in your place!"

"A heroic rescue. What next, the continuation of the cliché with the beautiful woman fall in love with the hero? I didn't realize that a conjured Dementor could act like as potent love potion." Snape sneered.

"Shut up Severus! You've been needling me all afternoon." Harry was beyond ticked off.

Snape was unconcerned over Harry's anger and continued placidly. "If you have the guts to do something like that, you will have to accept people talking about it. My version is already the most down to earth and unembellished one. Do you want to hear the deluxe, extended version? It was circulated from Hufflepuff. I rather like it. You're portrayed as a rake who has ruined countless women. Who said Hufflepuffs are idiots. I find them to be very imaginative."

"Severus, come on!" Harry moaned and slumped into the sofa.

A more somber Severus said, "Seriously, how are you going to explain this to Professor Voldemort?"

At 10:05 Harry stood at the door to Voldemort's quarters with a tray in his hands. A snaked coiled on the rococo style door lazily flick a glance at him then lowered its head in a bored manner. [_How dull, another human speaker._]

[_To be realistic, your expectations are a bit high. Parselmouths are quite rare._] Harry said.

The snake looked at him in surprise and wanted to chat more, but finally just opened the door. [_Alright, no password needed for a Parselmouth._]

Seeing Harry come in, Voldemort put down the volume of "A Compendium of 20th Century Black Magic" in his hand and smilingly asked, "Something the matter? I thought all the students were partying."

Harry put the tray down in front of Voldemort and tentatively said, "Your late snack." His eyes darted nervously all over the place.

Looking at the average choice of dishes, Voldemort wondered whether the food was edible. "Did you make this?" House elves' culinary skills were noticeably superior.

Harry's face flushed becomingly and his voice was tiny as he answered, "Yes, it's definitely edible… probably…" He voice was barely audible.

In truth, even if it would cause him to contract food poisoning, Voldemort would have happily eaten everything, as Harry's culinary skills were far from toxic, Voldemort supportively finished all the food. Harry really had made too much food though, he was a very powerful wizard, not a very powerful pig.

Harry was gratified, but he wasn't sure why he was feeling this way. "I was going to buy you a present as thanks for your tutoring but I decided that it would be more meaningful if it was something I made myself." Harry said shyly, "I don't know how to cook with magic, so I had to ask the house elves to teach me."

"It's the thought that counts." Voldemort's words were few as he was feeling so stuffed that he didn't want to talk, "Don't go to the kitchen, it's dangerous there."

"I'm fine." After a moment, Harry peeked at Voldemort's expression in worry, "You're not angry are you?"

Voldemort did not reply, just looked enigmatically at the boy.

"I didn't mean to touch her, anyone would have helped her in that situation, she's very talented and shouldn't lose the chance for a fair examination because she was born to muggles." Harry looked at Voldemort non-commital expression, he began to grow nervous, "You aren't going to have me transferred to another magical school are you?" Voldemort would never have him leave the magical world, but Harry wasn't sure he wouldn't command him to leave Hogwarts.

So that's what tonight is about. Professor Benedict had told Voldemort of this incident, repeatedly praising Harry's respectful attitude, graceful air and uncommon magical strength. Voldemort was of course, very glad that Harry had impressed a prominent peer, but at the same time, he was worried about Harry's feelings for Lily Evans.

At the start of term the two had conversed genially, at breakfast in November, the atmosphere between the two had been rife with hidden emotions and now had come the heroic rescue. Despite the lack of any actual association between the two, Voldemort could not help but suspect that Harry had fallen in love with Lily Evans. If Harry had not come to him today, he would have sought him out tomorrow. Yes, if Harry had fallen in love with Lily Evans, he would not have hesitated to transfer Harry to Durmstrang and Karkaroff to cut all ties Harry had to Hogwarts. He must ensure that he was the only one to win Harry's affections.

"Harry, falling in love with a girl is normal for a fifteen year old boy." He deviously pretended to offer encouragement to test the waters.

Harry instantly jumped up like he had sat on a porcupine. "Despite what you may be thinking, I have no such disgusting feelings for Lily! I just want to be her friend!" How could Voldemort have thought that he was in love with Lily, it was disappointing.

"Friend?" Voldemort repeated Harry's protested desire slowly, "Men and women do not become friend, only lovers."

"Like men can only jump into bed with each other right, my dear Professor Voldemort, who lives to play tricks on students." Harry was angry and could not help but mock Voldemort with games he had not played since Halloween. Harry could not possibly fall in love with his own mother, it was an insult to Lily. Voldemort's words were also a heavy offense against the genuine, platonic love between he and Hermione as friends.

Voldemort raised his brow and relaxed the breath he had been holding. It seems that Harry really only wants friendship and not romantic love with Lily Evans, the anger on his little one's face was the anger of the someone maligned and not the frustrated rage of someone who was exposed, nor was it forced calm to cover guilt

"Ok, I apologize." Voldemort surrendered happily. "Given who you are Harry, I hope that you can be cautious in your romantic engagements, if not a pureblood, at the very least choose a halfblood."

Harry relaxed, he won't have to be transferred.

"As for Lily Evans, she is indeed an attractive and lovely girl. If you wish to continue your friendship with her…" Voldemort paused, but to his surprise heard Harry's refusal, "No, she and I should not become any closer."

"Oh?" Voldemort grunted his doubt. "I thought you wanted very much to become her friend."

"I have my considerations." Harry lowered his eyes, he did want to be friends with Lily, very, very much, but reality stood in the way. "It's best to maintain my current distance from her."

Overjoyed with Harry resolute decision, Voldemort considered this topic closed. With a glower, he took out two sets of Quidditch tickets and said, "Take the tickets, Severus asked me to buy them, they are tickets for every match of this summer's Quidditch World Cup which is being held in England. One set is for him, another is for Remus Lupin. Tell him that for him, I had to spend much time to find out what seats James Potter and Sirius Black had."

Harry accepted the tickets as he held back laughter. Then he had a thought, "Can I give Lily a ticket? She couldn't possibly be able to buy one. I won't let her know who sent it."

Voldemort raided a brow. "I'll try to get one. A ticket for the match on August 15th, VIP grade, sitting with Severus. I believe you would have no objections to Severus looking after her?"

Harry shook his head.

The next morning and an owl delivered the Quidditch World Cup tickets to Remus, he was so excited he almost wept. His family was not rich like James, to be able to afford a full set of tickets, so they had only purchased tickets for several matches involving the English team, he could only listen to the wireless at home for the other matches. The halfblood prince had given him a wonderful surprise, not only was this a full set of World Cup tickets, the seats were right next to James!

"Well well, this halfblood prince is really good to you Remus. You should give yourself to him in gratitude." Sirius poked fun at Remus.

"True, true, this is the sort of man that is dependable." James joined in the fun.

Lupin flushed and glared at his two irritating friend, unable to say a word.

Peter muttered to himself, "I won't be seeing any matches…"

Harry also received a parcel that gave him a pleasant surprise.

_Dear Harry Potter,_

_I don't know how to convey my gratitude. You saved me from the Dementor and interceded on my behalf with Professor Benedict, hopefully giving me a chance to pass the OWL for DADA. Words cannot express my appreciation. I offer instead several trinkets that I made by hand and hope that they meet with your approval._

_Loyally yours,_

_Lily Evans_

In the parcel were two items obviously made by feminine hands, a furry, green knitted quill bag and an inkwell holder woven from unicorn hair.

An owl flew from the Slytherin table to the Gryffindor table causing an uproar. Lily was surprised to receive a reply from harry. Wasn't he worried that Voldemort would be upset? Lily sneaked a peak at the head table and found nothing foreboding in Voldemort's expression.

_Dear Lily Evans,_

_I like the quill bag very much and I also like the inkwell holder, they are beautiful._

_As for what happened yesterday, there's no need to thank me, anyone would have done the same._

_Forever yours,_

_Harry Potter_

Just an ordinary missive.

James Potter left in a rage. However, his ill mood was alleviated several days later, at the end of the school year, Gryffindor won the house cup with 489 points, Slytherin came in last. "Slytherins drool." He said contemptuously.

Harry pretended not to hear. Next year Slytherin would not lose again, because he was going to be the Slytherin Quidditch team's new seeker.

Summer holidays after fifth year was the best Harry had had to date, the Quidditch matches began on July 9th and Harry and Voldy watched all the matches from the VIP box.

On July 31st English made it into the final 16 teams and it was also Harry's sixteenth birthday, as well as the sending out of the OWLs results. In the afternoon when the owl brought Harry his results, he was too nervous to open the letter. Voldemort and Nagini teased him mercilessly for that. Harry got nine Os.

That evening was Harry's birthday party. Voldemort did not invite a single outsider, instead only Snape was invited. Snape arrived punctually and he, Voldemort and Nagini gave Harry the happiest birthday he had ever had. They sang "Happy Birthday", they blew out the candles on the cake with him, and they ate the triple-layered, strawberry cream cake together. Then they started to open the presents. Voldemort gave him a silver white silk robe, with double fasteners made from gold, natural, deep sea pearls and two small snakes made out of pale golden pearls on the collar. Nagini's gift was a golden snitch, she had already learned from Harry that he would become Slytherin's seeker next school year. Snape's present was a bottle of homemade perfume, with a soft but linger scent of sandalwood. Then the boys began to open the presents from the Death Eaters, competing over who could open them faster and who could open the most.

A/N: I just realized that I had translated James' position as Chaser in chps 1-10, therefore I have edited and reloaded that chapter.


	6. Chapters 41 to 49

A/N: Hi everyone, despite the rant at the beginning of the last post, I'd like to assure you all that I am not in fact a raging lunatic ;), I just love to vent when I am faced with something or someone being stupid, insulting and/or rude, now that I've calmed down, please allow me to state clearly that I love to hear from all of you, do not hesitate to point out any typos or ambiguities/inconsistencies you may see, such comments will not offend me, however I do reserve the right to revise my work only as I see fit. As I am trying to get the whole thing out as quickly as possible (as evidenced by the almost daily chapters) and also in accordance with quirks in my personality, I have skipped the process of trying to find a beta and having my work reviewed, so please accept my apologies for any remaining mistakes. As many of you have no doubt experienced, no matter how many times you read through your own work, familiarity often breeds blindness and one rarely locates all the errors, so, as mentioned above, please feel free to tell me about any mistakes you find. Thank you.

Dear You Know Who (wow, I really am going native here): I see that my comments and stated preferences in the matter of reviews either went right over your sanctimonious little head or were totally ignored by you in your arrogance. I won't even dignify your pontificating little review with a response. Please do whatever you like, I see no value in communicating with you any further.

Warning: there's some smut in this chapter, mainly just kissing and touching

**41-43.**

On August 15th, the final of the Quidditch World Cup was about to commence. At noon, Harry and Voldemort arrived at their tent which was made of a sky blue, waterproof satin that wasn't too ostentatious. On entering, Harry found that there was only a luxurious double room with an en suite. Why weren't there two single rooms instead? But Voldemort was too busy receiving group after group of guests to give him a reply: the senior undersecretary, department heads, deputy department heads, officers, as well as Death Eaters from around all over the world, the last visitor was Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Seeing that the two disingenuous men were speaking agreeably, Harry rolled his eyes and went to bed.

Feeling hungry Harry woke to find himself in Voldemort's arms. The man's embrace was warm and snug and gave off a faint aroma of juniper. Meeting the loving and indulgent eyes of the man holding him, Harry forgot what he was going to say, luckily his stomach protested, "Um, I'm hungry."

The man gave a low chuckle and snapped his fingers, house elves immediately delivering a delicious smelling lunch. "You were sleeping so deeply, I couldn't bear to disturb you." Holding Harry felt so good, the petite body fit into his arms as though it was born to be there.

After Harry had finished eating, he impatiently suggested, "Would you like to sleep a little longer? Last night you were so excited that you barely got any sleep and the match might run long tonight"

Finding that logical, Harry lay down again and automatically curled into Voldemort's arms, finding a comfortable position, he fell deeply asleep.

In the afternoon Harry went to visit Snape at Lucius' tent where he was staying, Lily and Alice Nate were in the tent next to them and James Potter's family tent was right next to them, he really was a persistent fellow.

The match that night was exceptional, Ludo Bagman performed very well and the match stretched into the next day before ending. The crowd returned to their tents to rest but Voldemort gathered his belongs and left the tent instead.

Harry scowled, another Death Eater meeting.

The night was quiet, as though all sound had disappeared. Harry twisted and turned on the bed, unable to sleep, not because the match was too exhilarating, but because years of war had kept him in a heightened state of awareness, as he felt as though something was about to happen. Finally, he got off the bed and got dressed properly, the recent year spend under Voldemort's influence having increased his sense of propriety, and picked up his wand; after careful thought, he also took the two way mirror Snape had given him on a previous birthday. As far as he knew, Snape always carried the mirror with him.

In the total darkness Harry could not even see the moon and the stars.

"What…?" Harry raised his head alertly and eyes as large as a baseball appeared around 18 feet above his head and a foot wide hand swung heavily towards him.

Harry leapt out of striking distance while sending out a stream of red light. The owner of the hand was undeterred and continued to reach for him.

Obviously _Stupefy_ won't work, Harry narrowed his eyes in thought, giants really had sturdy bodies. But Harry was well-versed in battling giants and with a slight flick of his wand, four trees wider than a man rose into the air and repeatedly bashed the troll's head, knocking him right out. He fell to the ground with a bang, shaking the ground with the impact.

An attack!

Realizing that this was an attack actually had the contradictory effect of calming Harry down. Years of combat had trained him well and the more chaotic the situation, the more calm he needed to be, he needed to remain as clear headed as possible in proportion to the threat presented by the enemy, his clear headedness was also required to deal with the fact that he had no information on the details of the enemy. This is because, in his past, everyone was following his lead and any mistakes he made in strategy would have more dire results than cold statistics written on a piece of parchment.

From the brief fight just a moment ago, it was obvious that trolls were involved.

When he was casting his spells, he felt like he was surrounded by an eerie power, trying to lower his magical power but it was unsuccessful. Harry was almost sure that this was a kind of spell or ward to sap the power wizards and their spells. It seems that the hidden instigator of this attack wants to bury all the wizard in this camping ground, that type of spell was extreme overpowering, if a wizard or witch did not have enough power to withstand or overcome it, their magic would be swallowed and they would temporarily be unable to use magic.

Completely unconscionable!

Was Harry's only thought.

Wanting to take tens of thousands of lives, what kind of cruel and merciless person could do something like that?

Could it be Voldemort?

The thought flashed through Harry mind, because it was just too convenient. But… but he was still on the camping ground, was Voldemort's caring in the past all just a sham? Just the thought of this possibility made Harry's fingers tremble.

Please don't let it be Voldemort.

It cannot be Voldemort.

Otherwise, he would be…

NO, Harry shook his head adamantly, it doesn't matter whether it was Voldemort or not, he and Voldemort have always two parallel lines that never meet, he can only try to accomplish his goals, what Voldemort is doing has nothing to do with him. Using people was just as natural as breathing to those who have no emotions.

There will always be an insurmountable chasm stretching between he and Voldemort, the only things that man will ever love is power and prestige.

Footsteps rang and a witch ran in Harry's direction, holding a crying baby in her arms. She yelled a warning when she spotted Harry, "Run! Inferi!"

Inferi!

Harry's heart felt like it had been plunged in ice.

He knows that Voldemort had utilized Inferi in both wars. Along with giants of course.

It was Voldemort.

He raised his eyes in rage and spotted five horrifying Inferi, with sharp claws covered with dripping blood, pursuing the witch running towards him. They were only a couple of steps behind the witch.

Harry waved his hand and a blue, violet flame shot out of the tip of his wand, rapidly expanding so that by the time it reached the space over the heads of the Inferi, it was large enough to cover all five of them. The smell of burning flesh was accompanied by hissing sounds and the terrified cries of those burning, the five Inferi were reduced to ashes in seconds.

The witch stopped running and slumped to the ground. Some color returned to her pale cheeks and tears streamed down her face, "Allen, they ate Allen!"

The baby cried harder.

"My condolences madam, for your loss." Harry took out his handkerchief and handed it to the witch. "You should run towards the edge of the grounds and not in that direction." It seems that the suddenness of the attack had scrambled her wits.

The hand holding the handkerchief shook violently and the woman was almost hysterical, "We couldn't get out! There was some kind of magic blocking our way, we couldn't apparate and we couldn't use our wands properly, we just tried desperately to run outside but found rows of Inferi blocking our way! Allen… Allen protected Lucy and I… they were eating people everywhere, giants, trolls, Inferi… Oh Merlin!"

She held tightly on to her daughter and her tears covered the baby's face.

Harry clenched his hand around his wand. There was something surrounding the perimeter? Was someone really trying to murder tens of thousands of people here? A very well thought out, well executed plan, even if the Aurors deployed, they could not prevent massive casualties.

Voldemort…

What should he do? Take this woman and child and leave then try to save more, or stay behind and try to help a greater number of people?

Peals of demented laughter and dying screams floated around his ears and the uncertain future plunged Harry into a quandary. He even had the desire to just escape without doing anything.

Why must he always be faced with such difficult choices?

Why must fate continually play with him?

Why him?

Why?

Loud bangs accompanied the shaking of the ground originating from afar, three well dressed but bloody children ran towards Harry, one child shot curses at the two trolls and the giant pursuing them like a cat pursuing a mouse as he ran. The curses were dark spells that light wizards definitely would not know.

Even though the darkness was heavy, Harry could still see the platinum blond hair and grey blue eyes of the caster, as well as a sharp chin.

Lucius Malfoy.

Harry began to feel that he had been mistaken in blaming Voldemort. However unfeeling Voldemort was, he would not attempt to murder the Malfoy family scion. The Malfoy family has always been Voldemort staunchest supporters and his most capable and highly ranked followers, Voldemort needed them for many tasks. He would not damage his own strength by killing the Malfoy family's only heir, if he did that, the Malfoy family and perhaps even the rest of the purebloods in the world would turn against him.

A tiny voice inside expressed its joy at this discovery.

Harry's body immediately felt warmer and his despair disappeared. His once blank mind become clear and focused and he knew what he had to do, first save Lucius and his group, then go and find Snape, Lily and James and his group, and finally, create a completely save area for people to retreat to.

He must do something quickly, casualties were climbing to a horrendous level with the passage of each second.

"Come little guys, you look very tasty and succulent!" The red headed giant licked his lips. He was speaking to Crabbe and Goyle who were running beside Lucius, to the giant their bodies, over half a head taller than Lucius and twice as wide, looked like delicious food.

The trolls followed behind the giant, bring with them an awful stench.

"Come here, let me handle them!" Harry yelled at the three. He needed for the three to be further away from the giant and the trolls.

The three children stilled for moment upon hearing Harry's words, but Lucius reacted quickly. He believed that anyone trained by Voldemort could not be too unskilled and the confidence and self assurance in Harry's tone relieved him more.

He commanded the two, "Crabbe, Goyle, run!" After several sprints, they lengthened the distance between them and their pursuers.

The giant was pleased, "More food, and three this time." He stared greedily at the baby in the witch's arms, "Babies are delicious, fat and juicy."

The woman paled, she wanted to run but Harry stopped her, "Madam, it will be alright."

Harry's calm demeanor and the faint quirk at the corner of his mouth calmed the witch, thinking back on how easily this endearing child had dispatched the Inferi that had almost killed her, she thought that he was probably unaffected by the spell sapping their magic.

If Harry had been more lenient on the previous giant due to not knowing the overall circumstances of their situation, this time he did not stay his hand. A green light and the two trolls fell, another _Avada Kedavra_ and the giant died as well.

The witch covered her mouth with her hand in disbelief, Merlin, an underage wizard, killing a giant and two trolls! This was something that even many adult wizards were unable to do, and this child had done it easily! This child… this child… who was he?

Harry hurriedly examined Lucius and his two companions. They had all been hit heavily but was not critically injured despite heavy bleeding. "The trolls couldn't hit us too hard because the giant wanted to eat us." Lucius' smile was bitter as he said this.

"That's good, at least you're still alive. A lot of people were eaten." Harry's heart was heavy, "You need potions." He had stopped their bleeding but they needed potions to replenish their blood and restore their energy. "We really need Severus. How did you get separated?"

"Severus left suddenly, I couldn't stop him." Lucius' smile grew even more bitter.

That stubborn git!

Harry took out his two-way mirror and yelled, "Severus, are you still alive?" He had better not be dead!

A mass of noises came from the mirror, then Lily appeared! "Snape is heavily wounded, I don't think he's going to make it…" She sobbed.

Harry was almost dizzy at the words, Snape was dying? "Where are you? Tell me now!"

"I don't know, I don't know…" The girl sobbed harder.

The mirror shook again, and a brown haired boy appeared, Remus. "We're trapped about 500 meters east of James' tent, please come quickly." He eyes were red.

What the hell? How did these people get trapped together?

Harry almost dropped the mirror in shock, this was too strange, Snape, Lily and the Marauders together?

But this does save him some time.

"Please come here everyone," He called for Lucius and his companions and then witch, "Madam, could you please also come." When the four were gathered, he said, "I'm going to try to apparate, I must get to Severus quickly," He turned to Lucius, "It would be safer if you came with me," He said to the witch, "After we have rescued Severus, I will take you all to a safe place."

The four nodded. Harry killing the giant and trolls had given them hope, Harry was truly unaffected by the magic sapping spell, perhaps he could provide them with a haven, that would be wonderful news.

The four held on to Harry tightly, "Be careful with the baby." Harry reminded, then apparated in the next second.

**44-46**

Harry's appearance startled everyone present, apart from the unconscious Snape.

"Potter, you can apparate!" Shrieked Alice Nate.

"It's nothing." Harry said lightly. He should have realized Alice Nate would be here, after all she was a good friend of Lily's and they were staying at the same tent. He looked around and spotted seven people overall, their faces were filled with sweat and their clothes bloody. It was a miracle that they were all still alive, achieving something that even many adult wizards had failed at.

"Severus!" Lucius abandoned his usual tightly maintained aristocratic decorum and rushed to Snape's side. This was because Snape looked terrible, his face was pallid and there was a palm width gash stretching from his sternum to his abdomen, the scarlet flesh was curled outwards. Luckily there was no bleeding, he had probably used potions that he carried around with him. For some reason Remus Lupin was at his side without as whisper of objection from James.

"Oh Merlin! This child's wound is terrible!" The witch who had just arrived sobbed as she caringly went to check Snape, "Is there anyone who can save him?"

After confirming that there were no enemies near, Harry went to examine Snape's wound. "Was it a giant or a troll?" He asked.

Lupin's face filled with fear, as though he had been taken back to that terrifying instant. "He was trying to save me and was raked by one of the giants' fingers."

Oh! Harry could say nothing to this. He could see a similar astonishment in Lucius' eyes. Snape had come to the rescue like some valiant hero, this was quite a demonstration of affection for the prude. Of course, Lupin doesn't know about Snape's feelings and was at most, confused.

His wand slowly moving over the gash, Harry softly chanted the complicated and difficult spell. In the past, when he had used _Septumsempra_ on Draco Malfoy, Snape had used this spell to save Draco's life. It was a typical dark arts spell so it was very effective against wounds caused by dark magic. Following the movement of the wand, the huge gash slowly healed. By the third time Harry chanted the spell, the previously gaping wound had healed into a faint white line. Harry thought it was fortunate that Snape had not run afoul of an Inferius. As far as he knew, Snape did not carry around antidotes for Inferi venom.

Right, he needed Snape's potions!

He started going through Snape's robe pockets, and found a gold box five centimeters long by three centimeters wide, this was his gift to Snape for his birthday this year, it was a foldable potions cabinet.

Pushing the brass clasp of the box caused it to unfold into a large sixteen level potions cabinet five meters high and three meters wide. Snape had only filled around one hundred spaces to date. Harry quickly browsed the spaces and took out the blood replenishing potions he found. He hopes that Snape has brewed a lot, the lives of the eleven wounded people here might depend on it.

As Harry was looking through the potions, the ground started shaking violently and deafening footsteps approached, a 20 meter tall giant became visible. "Delicious humans." He licked his blood encrusted lips greedily.

The six who had not witnessed Harry's prowess rushed to escape, Remus made to pick up Snape but was stopped by Lucius, "What are you doing Lupin? Severus needs to rest!"

"The giant is coming, we have to flee!" Remus yelled back.

"It's okay, Harry will take care of everything!" Lucius gestured for Crabbe and Goyle to restrain Remus.

"Idiot! We're going to get killed!" James cursed viciously and pulled out his wand. He knows that he cannot use it, but he had to try, maybe it will work now.

"_Stupefy!_"

Six weak red beams struck the giant to no effect. Giants are resilient by nature and add the magic sapping field to this and the six spells were like bug bites to the giant.

The six could only raise their wands again, "_Stupe—_"

A green light rushed past them to hit the center of the giant's forehead before they could finish, the giant froze and fell heavily to the ground never to get up again.

The six turned around stared at Harry in amazement, Harry ignored them as though nothing out of the ordinary has happed and grabbed a bunch of blood replenishing potions, passing them to the witch, "Madam, you need to drink three of these." Then to Lucius, "Two for you, one each for Crabbe and Goyle, Severus needs six."

He turned back to the remaining six, "You each need at least two." He extended his hand, offering the twelve vials. "Drink this, then I will explain the situation to all of you."

Alice Nate said shrilly, "You used the killing curse! You… how could you… you'll be sent to Azkaban!"

"I don't think he will be sent to Azkaban, remember whose nephew he is." James said coldly.

"He's getting just as evil as the rest of them, casting the killing curse after less than a year with Voldemort." Sirius' face was filled with loathing, obviously Harry's usage of the killing curse had bought back memories of the family he had forsaken.

"I don't think Harry did anything wrong. It was kill or be killed with the giants and I would choose for the giant to die." Lily rebuffed, then took the long necked potion vial from Harry's hand.

Sirius roared, "He could have chosen some other curse! He didn't have to kill the giant!"

"I believe that the foremost important thing is to not allow your enemies to mount a counter attack, the most effective way is to kill them." Lucius said arrogantly.

"Correct. Only one person able to reason in the whole of Gryffindor." Snape said with difficulty, as derision filled his eyes.

Harry walked up to Snape, displeased he said, "Don't talk Severus, you need to rest."

Snape gave a tired shake of his head, "We can't stay here Harry. You're the only one able to use your wand and we're in danger." He looked at the baby who had fallen into an exhausted slumber in the witch's arms, "Especially considering we have a baby with us."

"Yes, I understand." Harry answered.

Then he picked up a twig, "_Portus_."

He helped Remus pack up Snape's potions cabinet, then said to the others, "Hurry, I will send you to a safe place!"

"Safe? This whole thing was planned by Voldemort, where is this safe place? The Death Eater headquarters?" James twisted his lips. He did not trust Harry Potter at all, this whole incident stank and Harry Potter looked neat and well groomed as though he had not been attacked, this made him feel very suspicious.

Harry abruptly turned to face him, his enraged glare forcing James to take a step back. "Voldy did not do this! He would never put Lucius and Severus in danger!"

In unison, Snape and Lucius also said, "Professor Voldemort would never have endangered Harry."

Lucius narrowed his eyes, "It had to have been the Order of the Phoenix."

"No way!" Alice Nate yelled angrily, "They have a meeting today!"

A meeting?

Harry frowned. How convenient, both the Order and the Death Eaters have a meeting and there is a surprise attack. Just who was scheming behind the scenes, and who is trying to kill tens of thousands of people?

But this was not the time to consider this. "Quickly, all of you, if you don't want to die." Everyone put their finger on the twig and Harry apparated.

Harry's destination was the Quidditch pitch. It was big enough to hold tens of thousands of people as long as they could get here. Harry arrived before the others and he got to work right away, putting up many complex wards to insure the security of the area. With a number of flashes, the others appeared about less than a minute lated and at the same time, Harry's fortifications were complete.

"So, now…" Harry waved his wand and more than ten thousand sleeping bags and thousands of toys covered the grass of the pitch.

When Severus and the others arrived, they were stunned by the sight that greeted them.

"You want everyone to come here?" Snape frowned, "That's very kindhearted of you."

"I can't just watch them die." Harry bit his lip.

"But how many will believe you Harry, that is the question." Lucius raised his brow.

Harry could understand their concerns, but his conscience would not allow him to abandon those people.

His gaze sweeping around to ensure that there were no weaknesses in his fortifications, he raised his wand and pointed it at the sky, "_Mosmordre!_"

A giant green skull appeared in the night sky as though composed of tiny green stars and a giant cobra slowly slithered from the gaping jaw of the skull. The skull rose higher and higher and the green mist gave off a silvery sparkle, the whole effect was that of a constellation never witnessed before.

Harry's amplified voice covered the thousands of acres of ground comprising the entire region. "All witches and wizards, your attention please, I am Harry Potter, Voldemort's nephew. The area located under the dark mark is the Quidditch pitch, please proceed here as soon as possible. It has been heavily fortified under various spells to bar non-human entry. It is very safe here so please get here as quickly as you can." He added, "I hope that everyone can put aside their prejudices and proceed to the pitch for the sake of your families and your children."

Even in this time, the dark mark was a terrifying presence. Harry had no doubt that rumors of Voldemort's various exploits will be spreading around rampantly after they return from the holidays.

The witch rocked the sleeping baby gently as she exclaimed, "I remember now, I saw your picture on the "Daily Prophet", you're Mr. Voldemort's nephew, a Hogwarts student."

"Yes, I have not had a chance to introduce myself, I am Harry Potter, sixth year student of Hogwarts. I can vouch for the fact that this attack was not instigated by Voldy." Harry once again clarified on Voldemort's behalf.

The witch smiled as she nodded, "I believe you, because Mr. Voldemort would never endanger his own nephew." She paused, "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Mary Sue."

"Madam Sue, could you please help me take care of the students? As well as those who are making their way here? I have to go see if I can save anyone else." Harry pleaded.

"You're mad Harry!" Lucius yelled, his usual noble manner nowhere in evidence, "You can't go back out there to rescue people, it's too dangerous! What if something were to happen to you? Professor Voldemort… you're his only family!" He had almost blurted out Voldemort true feelings, he broke out in a cold sweat over that.

Lily also stood in front of Harry to prevent him from leaving, he could be killed. "No Potter, you can't go. That's work for Aurors, not for us underage wizards and witches."

Sue also thought that Harry was making a mistake, "You're just a child, no matter how powerful you are. I don't agree with you, you should stay here."

"We can't waste any time. Who knows when the Aurors will be able to get here. I can't stand by and watch the people outside die." Harry had made his decision, "I have to go and save as many as I can. If it gets really dangerous, I have a way to be safe." He touched the locket at his breast. It could easily send him to Voldemort's side.

Seeing that Harry was resolute, the three could only give up. What could they do, Harry was so strong, they couldn't stop him even if they were at full strength, and they were currently weakened by the sapping of their magic.

As Harry was about to apparate out of the pitch, several people rushed into the stadium, the giants and the troll pursuing them were bounced strongly away from the entrance of the stadium, crashing heavily into the ground a distance away.

The newcomers relaxed. They were two pairs of parents with three children along with one young couple. They turned and looked at Harry and the others in overwhelming relief.

Harry smiled his most warm, gentle and flawless smile, "Welcome everyone, I am Harry Potter."

"Oh, yes, we saw you on the "Daily Prophet"" One father said hesitantly.

They had all been quite close to the pitch when his wife heard Harry's announcement, she forced him to come, "What if it's really safe? Think of the children. Harry Potter is a child too, he couldn't mean us any harm."

So he brought his wife and children here in spite of his dislike of Voldemort, thinking that if it was a trap he would just take his enemies out with him. On arriving at the stadium, he found two tall and awkward boys and a tall, slender youth looking after another pale boy, there were also three other boys and one girl sitting or standing around, finally there was also a young mother watching her sleeping baby with red eyes. They all had messy hair and bloodied and torn clothes and had obviously just escaped from danger. Conversely, Harry Potter did not appear to have sustained any attacks, his black hair was neatly arranged with not a hair out of place, his beautiful dark green robes were pressed and smooth with not a wrinkle in sight and his elegant leather shoes were without a speck of dirt. A gentle breeze carried with it a faint scent of laurel. Where everyone was ragged and unkempt, this boy looked as pristine as if he had just been dressed with the help of house elves, he appeared as fresh as spring dew. Voldemort was worth every bit of his reputation, being able to create a safe haven for his nephew directly after the attack began. This was very gratifying for them. No matter who Harry Potter's uncle was, an underage wizard should not be put in danger. Even more gratifying was that the boy was willing to share his safety with others. He was a fine and handsome boy and his sweet, gentle smile was very soothing, helping them to calm down in a short amount of time.

Harry was happy to see that his efforts were not wasted, he nodded to Mary, "I'm counting on you Madam Sue." Then he apparated out once again.

**47-49.**

The apparition caused the dubious men to immediately believe they had been duped, they quickly drew their wands on Mary, despite the wands being quite useless, "This is a trap!"

"Wait, wait!" Mary rolled up her sleeves showing her unmarked arms, "I am not a death eater, this is not a trap! All of us were saved by Harry, he is going out to save others."

"How is that possible, he's still underaged!" One mother shook her head. How could an underage wizard be so powerful?

Sue nodded firmly, "Yes, he is underage, but he is more powerful than most, also, he has a kind heart."

Outside the stadium the night was still filled with darkness and chilling noises, luckily many were making their way to the stadium. Some were evening carrying five or six people on one broom. There was still no sign of the Aurors.

After who knows how many portkeys, Harry leaned tiredly against a tree, lifting his hand slowly to wipe away the sweat on his brow. The sky was beginning to lighten and he was exhausted after working tirelessly all night. After leaving the stadium he had been apparating, using the killing curse, using fiendfyre and making portkeys non-stop. Sometimes he was in time to save some trapped wizards and sometimes he was too late and could only pick up the wands lying sadly on the ground- this might be the only clue to their identity. And the poor children, they were delicacies to the monsters and would be dismembered and eaten as soon as they fell into the monsters' hands. Even having witnessed countless atrocities during the war, Harry couldn't help but weep as he gathered up their forgotten toys and their tiny, shredded clothing. The only thing he could do was appear in place after place, trying to save as many as he could.

A noise came from the two way mirror and Harry took it out to see Snape. His color had improved and some color had returned to his lips.

"Are you alright Severus?"

Snape smiled oddly, "I am alright, it's you that's in trouble." Not waiting for Harry to ask, he gave him the answer, "Professor Voldemort is here, he is frantic because he couldn't find you."

Lucius chuckled softly beside Snape.

Harry felt like it was the end of the world. Voldemort had arrived! It would be a good thing if Harry had stayed safely at the Quidditch pitch. But now he must be furious, he couldn't imagine what would happen when he appeared in front of him.

"Professor Voldemort said that if you don't go to him immediately, you won't even be able to think about leaving his side again in the future." Snape said languidly, enjoying the sight of his friend's dread

"I understand." Harry gave up on his idea to disappear, not wanting to become Voldemort's Siamese twin. Even though the threat was laughable Voldemort might really make it into reality.

He squeezed Slytherin's locket and in the next second his eyes locked onto Voldemort's crimson ones, which were burning even redder in rage.

"Ah, ha ha…" Harry's nervous laughter dried up then faded as he backed away, trying to widen the distance between himself and the enraged man. "Good evening, no no no, I meant Good morning, Voldy, how are y—"

He was shocked still by the dark red gaze of the approaching man, unable to say another word, he was considering throwing a _Petrificus Totalus _or a _Stupefy_ at the man then escaping.

Suddenly the man took him into his arms and he watched the man's face get closer and closer, until he could clearly see each of the man's eye lashes. Then cold, moist lips covered his own.

It was summer, why were Voldemort's lips cold?

This strange and completely irrelevant question popped into Harry head and his rational mind wanted to slap himself. Harry Potter! You are being kissed by your supposed uncle, why are you wasting time wondering why his lips are cold? Either the man naturally has low body temperature, or worry over your safety has adversely affected his physical condition, it's not like there was a third option.

The arm around his waist tightened and Harry opened his mouth to shout in pain, Voldemort's insidious tongue took this chance pushed into his mouth to conquer his. Harry widened his emerald eyes disbelievingly, that wanker, how dare he take advantage of him.

This was not Harry's first kiss, he had been kissed many times, by Cho Chang, and Ginny, he had even gotten Ginny pregnant, he wasn't some innocent little boy. But he had never been kissed by a man, he didn't know what kissing a man was supposed to feel like, but Voldemort's kiss was both violent and rampant, he licked madly at the sweetness in every corner of Harry's mouth and every part of his mouth felt like it had been branded with Voldemort's mark. Harry didn't like this treatment, he struggled and he resisted, all in vain. The man's tongue stubbornly invaded his little mouth, sucking on his tongue until it started aching in numbness, reddening Harry's delicate lips with the force of the kiss until they stung. Harry surrendered. Let him do whatever he wants, Harry thought fuzzily.

Despite the violence of the kiss, the man was fortunately also very skilled, although Harry did not like it at first, under the expert movements of the invading tongue Harry's breath grew short and his body warm, his thoughts grew hazy and shivers ran up and down his spine, his resistance completely melted away and he slumped into the man's arms, surrendering to the man's amorous advances.

Realizing that the dazed little kitten in his arms might soon swoon from lack of breath, Voldemort smugly ended the kiss. Even though he had been very anxious over Harry's safety, the sight of the unharmed boy had destroyed his control and he couldn't stop himself from kissing Harry, after the first touch of his lips, Harry's sweetness was overwhelming and he could not stop. Lord knows that it was taking every bit of his strength to refrain from taking Harry straight to bed. He stared fixedly at the boy in his arms, at the dazed eyes, flushed cheeks and swollen red lips, from his height he could see past the low collar of the robes and shirt to see the well shaped collar bone, the smooth, pale chest and the dusky shadow of two pink nubs…

His body was almost out of his control!

Harry was gasping as he leaned against Voldemort, trying to slow his breathing and calm his thundering heartbeat, but something hard and burning was digging into his abdomen causing it to ache and that thing was getting bigger and harder.

Is… is that…

Harry swallowed with difficulty then hesitantly looked down, at the first glance his delicate face flushed bright red and he yelled, "Voldemort, I am your nephew!" Not some student trying to climb into his bed!

Voldemort smiled brazenly, "Oh, I know that you are my nephew in name, but you and I both know that our relationship is something quite different. Calling you my nephew was just so that I would have an excuse to take care of you." He smile was as smug as it was fake, "Harry, you have never seen me as a parental figure." It was time to get some facts out into the open.

Damnit, I knew this man had ulterior motives! Harry thought angrily, alright then, let's bring everything out into the open. "Then why—"

The thunderous sounds of the earth shaking and the din of curses floated closer and closer.

Harry was annoyed as he drew his wand, "Haven't the Aurors arrived yet?"

"Oh, I think they have been deployed, after all, both Dumbledore and I have returned." Voldemort smiled lazily.

Then why were the giants still running around brazenly? Were the Aurors all incompetents?

Harry gave it a thought, then said to Voldemort, "Now is not the time for us to chat, we can make arrangements for another time later."

"I'd be delighted to." Voldemort raised his brow. Obviously, it was the right time to move his relationship with Harry to the next level, his prolonged patience and persistence were about to be rewarded.

"Uh, wait, Harry." He caught the attention of the boy about to run out to deal with the giants.

When Harry turned to him in puzzlement, Voldemort waved his wand and restored Harry to the neatly groomed appearance of twenty minutes ago with several charms; beautiful hair, neat attire, all the signs of the man's amorous attentions were erased and he was once again perfect enough to attend a coronation. His Harry had won sufficient prestige for both of them and he would not allow anything to damage Harry's reputation. Harry's incredible actions last night should have won him an Order of Merlin, First Class as well as a statue in his honor erected by the tens of thousands he had saved. There must not be even a hint of any type of scandal attached to Harry at this time.

Harry's head cocked in puzzlement and Voldemort's heart softened at this adorable sight. "Go, kill those monsters!"

Six men and one woman surrounded a giant and two trolls, the trolls were dead but the giant was still unharmed.

"_Stupefy!_" Seven streams of red light flew at the giant but he just scratched at his body, completely unharmed. He looked down at the seven bugs around him, then reached out and grabbed the only witch, bringing her towards his mouth.

"_Stupefy!_" "_Impedimenta!_" The wizards continued to throw spells at the giant's body, but he only paused a few times before it continued trying to eat it's prey, bringing the witch closer and closer to his mouth.

"_Septumsempra!_" Harry couldn't stand this anymore, what was keeping the Aurors back? Why are they continuing to act this way, as though not enough people had died.

The giant's hand was severed as though with a sword, then six or seven more long, deep gashes appeared, spewing blood, he bellowed in pain and the witch fell from hiss loosened hand and was caught by her colleagues.

An Auror with straw colored hair waved his hands in discontent, "Hey, you can't hurt him, under the "Preservation of Magical Creatures Act" giants are protected as they are endangered!"

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing, they were worrying about the endangered nature of their enemies on the battlefield? Were these Aurors idiots? "So you're just standing by watching as they eat your comrades rather than using stronger spells? Hidebound idiots." Harry gazed coldly at the seven Aurors, "You are all killers, murderers. You won't hurt a giant so you spend who know how much time trying to just subdue it, at the same time, other giants and trolls have harmed countless others. I don't know how you are going to face the families of the victims, are you going to tell them that you had to stand by and watch giants eat those who shouldn't have died, just because they are endangered and should be protected?" He raised his wand and a stream of green light struck the giant who was getting to its feet, putting him down permanently.

He was enraged, no wonder the monsters were stilling running around killing and eating people so long after the magic sapping field had been dispelled, he had thought that it was just due to the resilience of the giants, but instead it was due to the negligence of the Aurors.

The seven Aurors lowered their heads in shame, they didn't want it to be like this either, they wanted to dispatch the monsters quickly and save more people, but…

Voldemort stopped Harry from saying more, "Harry, believe in the abilities of the Aurors, they must have had a reason for acting this way." He looked at the middle-aged auror with a golden pin on his chest, this was the captain of the unit, "Please tell me Captain, were you given special orders prior to deployment?"

The man shook his head, "As you must be aware Mr. Voldemort, that is classified." Even thought Voldemort was one of the real powers behind the Ministry of Magic, and he would have immediately known of any special order if he hadn't been meeting with Dumbledore to negotiate, this was still not something the man could reveal.

"Classified?" Voldemort raised his brow, "Irons, you tell me." He instructed his own man.

A brown haired Auror bowed deeply, "Honored master, it's like this. Before we were deployed, the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge issued a command that, giants and trolls were endangered species and should be protected, therefore they were not to be harmed but only captured alive." He looked up and his mouth twisted, "This has been very troublesome for us, we have even been unable to save some wizards because of it."

"That's atrocious!" Harry tightly clenched his fists, unable to find the words to express his anger.

Voldemort patted his shoulder consolingly, "I understand, please inform all the other Aurors, Fudge's command has been countermanded, they should use the utmost speed in saving the remaining wizards. Every single creature that was involved in this attack is to be killed, every last one! I have already caught several of the participating wizards and you will assist me when I "entertain" them later." His smile was chilling, "It appears that we will need a new Minister for Magic." Damnable Cornelius Fudge, he had cost him the lives of tens of his followers, Voldemort will make him pay!

"Understood, honored master." Irons backed away respectfully then apparated away with his colleagues.

Voldemort put his arm around Harry's shoulders, "Don't take this to heart Harry, not everything can proceed how we want them to. Don't worry, Dumbledore and I will take care of this and present all wizardkind with an accounting."

"You and Dumbledore?" Harry's eyes widened in surprise, these two sworn enemies are going to work together?

"Whoever planned this attack used the opening provided by my negotiation with Dumbledore to launch this large scale attack, both the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix have sustained damage, many lost their lives or their children and the offspring of the higher ranked members have all sustained varying degrees of damage. Also, thousands of innocent wizards lost their lives. The one behind this attack is a threat to both Dumbledore and myself and must be eliminated. Dumbledore and I had reached an agreement on this when we arrived at the Quidditch pitch."

Ah, there are no eternal friends, just as there are no eternal enemies.


	7. Chapters 50 to 61

A/N: Dear obnoxious reviewer: since politely telling you that I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU doesn't seem to be working, congratulations, you have now been blocked. Despite how lacking you find my work to be YOU JUST WON'T STOP READING AND REVIEWING. Read as much as you like, but I do not want to hear from you, frankly I didn't even read your last review, I just turned right around and blocked you the moment I saw you name.

Once again, some kissing between Voldy and Harry

**50-52.**

When Harry and Voldemort returned to the Quidditch pitch, Sue was hovering around the entrance of the stadium with Lucy, who was playing with a toy, in her arms.

"Madam Sue, are you waiting for someone?" Harry asked offhandedly.

Sue shook her head, "No, I just wanted to say thank you. You saved Lucy and I and we will never forget what you have done for us."

Harry wrinkled his brow, he didn't save people for their gratitude. "Um, it's okay, anyone would have done what I did." He hurriedly changed the subject, "So, what will you do in the future?"

"In the future?" Sue's face fell for a moment, then she quickly recovered and smiled brilliantly, "I'll find a job, and raise Lucy to be an excellent witch, that way Allen can rest in peace."

Even after he had walked far from them, Harry kept turning around to look at Sue, who was playing with her baby. In the parenting area designated by the Ministry of Magic, there were many other recently widowed young women who had also lost their husbands, and the same determination was visible on their faces.

He lowered his head and grabbed instinctively onto Voldemort's sleeve, "Voldy, can we set up a charity? To look after the widowed mothers and the children, and also to help the orphaned children, they, they…" Harry started sobbing so hard that he couldn't continue, tears streaming down his cheeks like strands of pearls.

There were no charitable organizations in the magical world, all single parents had to raise their children themselves, and all orphans only had two paths: being adopted by a relative or kindhearted wizard or witch, or being sent to a muggle orphanage.

"Voldy, you and I both know what it would mean for these children to be sent to an orphanage, all that's waiting for them is the fear and alienation from muggles, everyone will isolate them." Harry recalled his own horrible experiences in both his childhoods, he doesn't want these children, who had just experienced the loss of their parents, to be treated like freaks by those around them. "Please, please…"

Voldemort could only see the top of the young man's head and luxuriant black hair but from the trembling body and the sobs he can well imagine Harry's little face covered in tears. He must have been reminded of his own experience in the orphanage, the terrified and hate-filled eyes, always being kept at a distance from others, it would have been unbearable even for the strongest child.

Pushing down his urge to hold the boy and comfort him in front of the eyes of everyone present, he handed Harry a handkerchief then softly and tendering consented, "Sh, sh, I'll take care of this personally as soon as I get home, I will ensure that every single parent family and every orphan will be adequately accommodated in the magical world. Don't cry, please don't cry? Your tears are making my heart ache."

Harry was comforted by his words at the beginning, but the last statement made him feel very self-conscious. Wasn't that something one would say to comfort one's girlfriend?

"Oh, Mr. Voldemort, Mr. Potter, you have finally returned."

The words were spoken by a round, pudgy man, who was constantly rolling a bowler hat in his hands and smiling ingratiatingly. Next to him was a tall, thin old man, whose shrewd eyes were locked deeply on Harry.

"Minister Fudge, I trust you are well." Harry said in a frigid tone.

"Mr. Potter, your actions today are absolutely unparalleled in brilliance." Dumbledore commended, "Especially the fortifications comprised of dozens of defensive spells and focused offensive spells, incredibly intricate and perfect beyond imagining."

An alarm bell began to ring inside Harry's mind and he subtly backed away until he was hidden behind Voldemort before he replied, "Headmaster, there was nothing else I could do at the time, so I simply employed everything I have learned and layered them over each other in a hotch potch. I was shocked that it ended up working so well." It was unavoidable that people would be able to deduce that it had been a masterful set of fortifications, but it was not necessary for him to admit it.

Dumbledore smiled as he nodded, "To be able to build such a magnificent magical structure under such urgent and trying circumstances, you are truly a most gifted student."

"This is all thanks to the wonderful teachings of the professors." Harry gave a fake smile. Since coming to Slytherin, he had been giving more and more fake smiles.

"Well, Dumbledore, it is time we got down to business." Voldemort interjected, "Harry, go and visit Severus."

"Yes, uncle." Harry grabbed the chance to leave, escaping from Dumbledore's enigmatic gaze.

Fudge did not know what he should do, neither Voldemort nor Dumbledore were people he could afford to offend and facing the two of them in concert, he could only stand quiet and accept whatever was coming.

"Who permitted you to give a command like that? Not harming the giants? I lost dozens of my people!" Voldemort growled out.

"The Order of the Phoenix also lost a dozen or so members." Dumbledore said softly. His loss was actually greater than Voldemort's as he did not recruit as many cannon fodder.

Sweat was rolling down Fudge's face as he meekly whispered, "I… I was trying to do what you wanted, you both seemed to care about the giants."

That was true, both Voldemort and Dumbledore cared about the giants, because their fighting ability was quite satisfactory and they were easily swayed.

"Even so. As the Minister for Magic you should know how to exercise your judgment, your incompetent command has cost me greatly," Voldemort glanced at Dumbledore, "It has also cost Dumbledore greatly, I suspect that you may have some connection to the perpetrator of this attack. From now on, you are no longer the Minister for Magic, Daley, take him to the Ministry, you know what to do."

An Auror appeared and took Fudge's wand, leading him away.

"Was that really necessary, I believe he was just too stupid to see the situation clearly." Dumbledore said slowly.

"Perhaps." Voldemort's smile was chilling, "Dumbledore, you should have learned of that command before me, why did you not countermand it?"

Dumbledore pushed his glasses higher on his nose, "At the time there were only Aurors left outside the pitch, there were no surviving wizards, changing the command would not have had much benefit."

At ten in the morning, Voldemort and Dumbledore issued a joint declaration that all the enemies had been routed and it was safe for the people to return to their homes. The Quidditch world cup final would be rescheduled.

On returning home, Harry was immediately wrapped in Nagini's coils as she checked Harry over in her own way. [_Ah, you look like you are well._]

Harry hugged the snake's cool body and kissed her large head, [_Nagini dear, I missed you._]

[_I missed you as well my darling. I was so worried when I heard about the attack on the wizarding wireless! Luckily you are alright._]

[_That's enough Nagini, let Harry go upstairs and rest, he didn't get any sleep last night._] Voldemort commanded as he couldn't bear to have Harry stand around chatting with the snake while he was so tired there were black pools under both his eyes.

Harry truly was exhausted and he fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.

The weakening rays of the setting sun filled Voldemort Manor and all the world seemed to be covered in a golden red glow, the serene and radiant atmosphere was enough to bring tears to one's eyes. Harry gently pulled the curtains open and greedily breathed in the warm and dry air of summer, in such a wonderful environment, the bloodshed and fighting of this morning seemed like a dream.

But Harry knew that it was not a dream, the twenty odd newspapers piled on the living room sofa confirmed that it was not a dream. At the top of the pile was the special, extended edition of the "Daily Prophet", fifty pages and three centimeters thick in total. The headline was "Quidditch World Cup Final- Night of Blood", the area below that was largely taken up by two photos, one showing Harry mercilessly killing a troll and the other showing Harry gently picking up a crying child. The article described last night's attack in detail and listed the 4,719 casualties, for most of them, no bodies were found. The article passionately applauded both Voldemort and Harry, but Harry received more of the praise, and was deemed "The most selfless and respected person", it announced that he would receive an Order of Merlin for sure, at the same time, it violently decried Fudge for issuing such an incompetent command during his term of office, intimating that Fudge was in league with the perpetrator. The other dozen or so English papers had similar content and the remaining dozens of newspapers were from foreign countries, Harry was only able to make out that two were from the United States. They all seemed to have similar content, as the photos featured on the stories were the same as for the British newspapers.

Thinking back, Harry vaguely remembered that someone had been taking pictures of him as he was fighting and rescuing others... oh well, no matter the time or which world was involved (magical or muggle), reporters would always be willing to risk their lives for their stories. Harry couldn't help feeling exasperated.

[_You silly child, it was enough to protect yourself, why go to save those stupid humans._] Nagini slowly slithered closer and rubbed against Harry's shoulder.

Harry laughed, [_Nagini, some of those stupid humans were the purebloods that Voldy is so fond of._]

Nagini contemptuously flicked her narrow tail, [_If they couldn't even overcome a measly little magic sapping field, their deaths would be no loss. Those people have many illegitimate children, there would have been heirs._]

Harry was amused by Nagini's words, [_You have a point._] This world was one where only the fittest survived. [_Oh, where's Voldy? Did he go to the Ministry?_]

Nagini shook her head, [_He does have to go, but he hasn't had time yet._]

Why not? Harry was puzzled.

"That should be all, just make the arrangements as per Harry's desires." Voldemort was still speaking to one of his followers as he descended the stairs, several dozen Death Eaters trailing behind him. Harry had met these Death Eaters last Yule at the ball and the one Voldemort was speaking to was Jim Green, Voldemort's private financial consultant, the thing that made Harry uncomfortable was that Jim looked a little bit like Harry, with black hair and green eyes, the way Jim looked at Harry also made him uneasy.

Voldemort spotted Harry, "Why did you get up so soon? Do you need to sleep some more?" He kissed Harry's brow.

Harry shook his head, he had slept enough. "You're going to the Ministry?"

"Yes, Dumbledore might gain too much of a hold if I'm not there to stop him, that would not be good for the Death Eaters." Voldemort took a set of documents from Jim and gave it to Harry, "As I did not have too much time, there may be many things that I did not think of. Please take a look at this, if there is anything you are unhappy with, tell Jim and he will modify it." Another kiss to Harry's cheek. "I must go, I may not return until September 1st, if you need to go out, please take Nagini with you, so you can look after each other. Alright?"

"Yes." Harry docilely nodded, Voldemort was always over cautious when it came to him and his safety, it was better to just comply with his commands.

After Voldemort left Harry went and sat at the sofa, finally having time to look at the documents Voldemort had handed him.

"The Harry Potter Foundation?" On seeing this name, Harry couldn't help exclaiming.

"Yes, young master Harry. As this foundation was originally suggested by yourself." Jim respectfully answered.

"But Voldy is the one providing the money for this…" Harry muttered uneasily. He himself was penniless and living on Voldemort's largesse.

A complicated expression flashed across Jim's face for a moment, filled with pain, anguish, envy, resentment and a faint hint of fear. But his expression immediately returned to the normal look of calm and competence, "What belongs to the master also belongs to you, young master."

Oh, right. If Voldemort died, then everything in his name would go to Harry as his only nephew. Having missed Jim's odd expression, Harry said, "Well, it's still a little embarrassing… no matter, he's already made his decision."

The document given to him by Voldemort contained the proposed steps for creating Harry's suggested charity from planning to execution. At the beginning Voldemort had only embarked on this venture to try and please Harry, but while he drafted the documents, he quickly found that this foundation would be of much benefit to him once it was established. Firstly, it would be a boost to his good name, not that he was overly concerned about that, but it would be helpful in deceiving the more simple minded members of the magical world, secondly, it would serve to confuse his enemies, of course those affected may be few in number and their competence may not be overly high, but it was better than nothing, thirdly, he would be able to assign his followers to help look after the orphans and the children with single parents, this would serve to subtly influence them into becoming his followers in the future, and finally, those who had benefited from the Harry Potter Foundation were bound to feel gratitude from it and if war broke out in the future both them and their families and relatives would be influenced by these feelings of gratitude. Based on these various possible benefits, Voldemort had been especially diligent when planning and the proposal in front of Harry was both meticulous and perfect.

Harry had to commend Voldemort's towering intellect, it seems that there is nothing that he cannot do flawlessly. "I have nothing to add, Voldy's already done a perfect job." He put the documents back together then handed them to Jim, "Is this document the reason Voldy didn't go to the Ministry earlier?" He thought back to Nagini's words, that "he hasn't had time yet".

"Yes, the master spent much time and effort on this." Jim's eyes showed his resentment. Ever since young master Harry had appeared, the master has devoted all his attention to him and all the lovers that he had cared for in the past were ignored. Out of these lovers, Jim suffered the most due to the fact that he was the private financial consultant and constantly had to be by Voldemort's side, having to force himself to remain silent and unaffected as he watched his once-lover aim all his loving and attention at Harry Potter, the envy that all his past competitors had experienced had now become his own source of anguish.

Harry was oblivious as usual and did not notice any oddness in Jim's behavior. He was vaguely aware about some of the details of Voldemort's life from the future but that was mostly pertaining to things outside of school, and since the last Halloween, Voldemort had not taken any student to his bed, so Harry was unaware that Voldemort had a string of ex-lovers outside the school that resembled him to a greater or lesser degree, at the most he was a little disturbed by the strange way Jim looked at him, a little resentfully, he had no idea what kind of decree Voldemort had made to his followers in relation to him

Right now he could only massage his temple as he worried over this new, massive favor that he now owed Voldemort, although this was not the first time and it would likely not be the last that he would be owing the man, Voldemort had risked letting Dumbledore gain a strong advantage to complete this task for Harry and he was feeling a little guilty over this. After all, any benefit to Voldemort from this foundation would not be apparent for several years, but a Ministry without Voldemort present at such as a crucial time had the potential to set back years of work and damage his power base. Harry could clearly see the importance Voldemort had placed on him and he took it to heart, thinking back on that scorching kiss, even through his oblivious nature he could recognize what type of feelings Voldemort held for him. He couldn't help a slightly bitter smile, he couldn't believe that Voldemort would develop romantic feelings for him? That explained why the man's attitude had always been so strange. Understanding this deepened Harry's concern and melancholy, there was no room for love in his plans for his life, especially not love for or from Voldemort, it was hard enough for him to live cautiously in the narrow slivers of peace, add Voldemort to this and he wouldn't know how to survive anymore.

**53-55.**

It looks like they will need to have a detailed discussion when Voldemort returns, his life needed no more complications, no matter what their manner or source.

Having temporarily put aside a difficult matter, Harry saw Jim out then started to complete his summer homework. In the past month he had been travelling around with Voldemort to watch the matches and so had neglected to take care of it, seeing as he only had half a month left until school starts, he had better complete it soon.

In the following days Harry would work on his homework every morning, then he would ride the rollercoaster with Nagini, and in the afternoon, he would watch television, also with Nagini, at least on the surface, his days were quite leisurely.

Three days before the school term was due to start, a house elf spoke to Harry after breakfast, "Young master Harry, youse have not gotten your schools supplies, do wes need to take care of it?"

This made Harry realize that he had not yet gotten his books for sixth year and he also needed to stock up on some potion ingredients, also Hedwig should have some other flavors in owl treats. Speaking of, he had not been for a trip to Diagon Alley since returning to the Manor at the beginning of the holidays, it was a good opportunity to go get some air. "No need, I will go myself."

[_Yourself? Do not forget what Voldy said before he left._] Nagini smacked Harry with her tail.

Harry smacked her head in retaliation, [_Of course I haven't forgotten, I was going to take you with me._]

Arriving at Diagon Alley, he found the atmosphere to be quite different. Gone was the past sense of prejudice, many of the crowd tipped their hats to him in respect and boys and girls looked at him in reverence. Flash bulbs went off repeatedly and if not for Nagini's vigilance, reporters might have swarmed him like beasts and torn him apart for a private interview.

Harry's first stop was Flourish and Blotts, where he had a surprise encounter with two old friends, well, two old friends in his past life, the once head of Magical Law Enforcement Bartemius Crouch and his son, Barty Crouch Junior.

Little Barty was now thirteen and was a Ravenclaw, Harry had seen him around the school.

At present the child's face was flushed with excitement and his eyes were sparkling as he yelled, "Harry!" Then ran over to him, "You were great! That picture of you killing that troll was wicked!"

Having not heard such fervent praise for a while, Harry felt his ears heat up. "Thank you Barty. I only did what I should."

"Oh, don't be shy Harry. That should have been the job of adult wizards, not underage ones, and it wasn't something that underage wizards can usually do." Little Barty looked at Harry like he was his hero, "Mum said that most adult wizards would not have been powerful enough to so easily dispatch a giant, it's usually a job for top Aurors!" Barty was getting more and more worked up.

With Harry's shy nature he was never able to get used to praise from others, being complimented continuously like was causing him to cast his gaze around helplessly, not knowing what to do. Nagini was snickering beside him.

"Enough Barty." It was Barty's stern and vaguely terrifying father who put a stop to Harry's embarrassment.

"Mr. Harry Potter did make a great contribution on the evening of August 15th, but at the same time he broke many laws." Said Bartemius Crouch harshly as he pulled his son back to his side. "Of course it is Voldemort who is at fault, I wonder what his intentions were, teaching unforgiveables to underage wizards."

Crouch's gaze at Harry was sharp as a needle and if Harry had not been through a war he might have been frightened. "Under certain circumstances, it is necessary to teach the unforgiveables to underage wizards." As far as Harry was aware, many Death Eater children survived due to some knowledge of the unforgiveables.

"Oh?" Crouch glared fixedly at Harry, like coiled serpent preparing to attack. "So, Mr. Potter, you who can cast the unforgiveables so easily, how many people have you had to kill to obtain this ease?"

"Mr. Crouch, please take care in choosing your words." Harry frowned, Crouch seemed to despise him, how strange. It appears as though Crouch truly loathed dark magic.

"Father, Harry didn't do anything wrong!" Barty Crouch Jr. was obviously unhappy with how his father was treating Harry.

Crouch angrily chastised his son. "Shut up Barty! You need to rethink some of you beliefs." He dragged his son out of the store despite little Barty's furious struggles.

[_Odious fellow._] Nagini was quite enraged, [_Dumbledore's lackey, he cannot be permitted to become the Minister for Magic._]

[_Minister? Dumbledore is endorsing Crouch?_] This was the first time Harry had learned of this rumor.

Nagini lowered her head rather sadly, [_You're Voldy's nephew, don't you read the Ministry Bulletins that Voldy sends you every day?_]

Harry's smile was a little self-conscious, he didn't read those bulletins because he preferred not to get too involved in such matters. [_Who is Voldy endorsing?_]

[_Frank Malfoy._] Nagini shook her head, [_Neither side is likely to succeed, it will likely be another fellow like Fudge. After all, there is only one Minister._]

After getting his books for sixth year as well as the new flavor of owl treats, Harry decided to replenish his potion ingredients then go to Florean Fortescue's for ice cream with Nagini. But when they got to the apothecary, they ran into Snape.

Snape was not looking so good, his color was off, his eyes despondent and his hair was greasy.

"Severus, what's up with you? You look terrible." Harry took a furtive step back, "When was the last time you bathed?"

Snape lifted his tired eyes to meet Harry's, then sighed in relief, "It's good that I ran into you here, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Do you my help with something?"

"No, I just wanted to talk."

Ah, wanting him to be his psychological dumping ground again, Harry thought with a sigh, it was rather depressing to constantly be on the receiving end of others' sad and depressing thoughts.

The two boys and a snake arrived at Florean Fortescue's and Harry asked Nagini to go eat her ice cream at the other end of the store, he and Snape sat down at a corner table to talk.

"Did something happen in the last few days? Harry asked as he ate a large spoonful of ice cream.

Snape was not fond of sweets so although he ordered a serving, he really had no intention of eating it. "We all went home on the 16th right?"

"Yeah."

"Then in the afternoon, Lupin came to see me." Snape said.

Harry laughed, "To thank you for saving him right? I never realized that you felt so deeply for him that you would sacrifice yourself for him." If the relationship between the two of them could improve due to this incident then it might be worth every bit of pain Snape had endured.

Snape was still for a moment, then he slowly nodded, then shook his head, "He did come to thank me, then he asked me a difficult question."

"What difficult question?" Harry took another huge mouthful of ice cream, it gave him such as chill that he felt like even his blood was freezing. What a rush!

"He asked me whether I knew the halfblood prince." Snape said with his voice lowered.

Harry immediate choked and started coughing. "Wh—what? He… does he know something?" He stuttered out the question.

Snape gave a long sigh, "You remember that he helped you pack up my potions cabinet?"

Harry nodded quickly, "Was that relevant?" He suddenly made the connection, "Wait, I seem to remember that you have some wolfsbane…"

"I keep some in the potions cabinet and carry it around with me, I wanted to ask Professor Voldemort to help me perform some tests on it."

"It was seen?" Harry asked but from his tone he already knew that the answer was positive.

"Yes, so he asked me if I was the halfblood prince. Of course I denied it. Then he asked me why I had the wolfsbane potion, I said that it was because Professor Voldemort had asked me to improve it."

"And did he believe you?" Harry was getting a little confused, surely it would not be that easy to deceive Lupin?

"No, but I wouldn't tell him anything more." Snape paused, "He's in love with the halfblood prince."

"Oh!" After a moment's thought, Harry could easily see how it had happened. Faced with someone who knew he was a werewolf but still took such good care of him and lavished him with attention, of course the solitary, insecure Lupin would fall in love with the halfblood prince. "What are you thinking?"

Snape looked at Harry with a half-smile, "What am I thinking? What can I think? I mean, I can't tell him that I'm the halfblood prince now can I?" Even though Lupin is already convinced that it was him, those eyes were filled with love as they looked at him, begging Snape to give him a positive answer. With just a nod, he could have had the wonderful life that he had been dreaming of for countless days and nights.

Harry scooped up another spoonful of ice cream, but had lost the mood to indulge any further. "Severus, you aren't thinking of keeping this from him forever are you? Aren't you afraid that he might fall for someone else?" He understands that there could be many obstacles to Snape and Lupin being together, but you never know how things will turn out unless you try. Things have a way of working themselves out, maybe after a while the issues will no longer be relevant… alright, maybe that was just wishful thinking.

"He won't fall in love with someone else if he is already in love with the halfblood prince, he's very true to his feelings." Harry nodded in agreement, it was not easy to move Lupin. "After Professor Voldemort has triumphed, and if I survive the war, then I will tell him."

"What if he dies before that?" Harry asked.

Snape shook his head, "He won't die."

"You can't always be there to protect him." Harry rolled his eyes, "Anything can happen on the battlefield."

Snape was very serious as he said, "He will not die before I do."

There's just no reasoning with him! Harry held his head in frustration. Snape's stubbornness could be so infuriating sometimes. "Alright, alright, let's not discuss the future just now. How are you going handle Lupin's question?"

Snape's thin lips were pursed into a line and he hesitated before he replied, "Obliviation."

"Wow, you don't pull any punches do you!" Harry exclaimed, "You didn't wipe the memory of you saving him did you?"

"I'm not that stupid, that would cause too many questions." Snape glared at him for that.

Harry had to admire Snape for his ruthlessness, if it was him, he didn't think he would have been able to wipe out the love someone felt for him, especially if he loved that person in return. To ensure Lupin's happiness, Snape could become unbelievably ruthless.

"You and Lupin will both live through the war, Severus, I promise." Harry silently vowed to himself as he finished his ice cream.

Two days after the trip to Diagon Alley, on August 31st, Voldemort finally returned home from the Ministry after two frantic weeks. When the house elves came to tell them, Harry and Nagini were watching television, Nagini slithered away at the news but Harry hesitated a moment before following. He's not going because he misses Voldemort, it was just that as Voldemort's nephew, he should go and welcome his uncle home.

After the last two weeks of working non-stop, Voldemort looked a little worse for wear and his faced was lined with fatigue. Tangling with Dumbledore sapped much of his energy, if it wasn't for the excellent foundation Harry had built for him, the outcome of the negotiations might have been quite different. Despite the fact that the public favor did not currently fall to the Order of the Phoenix, that old fox Dumbledore had still taken a senior undersecretary post right out from under him, maintaining the delicate balance of power inside the Ministry. Dumbledore is, after all, an old hand at this game, showing nary an outward sign, and maintain his image as a benevolent old man, his political schemes were nevertheless devious and the man himself was as slippery as an eel. It was fortunate that Dumbledore was the only cunning member of the Order of the Phoenix and that all the other members were hidebound antiques, no matter their age.

[_Voldy, you must be exhausted after dealing with Dumbledore for more than two weeks._] Nagini hissed at she slithered to meet him.

Voldemort glanced in the direction Nagini had come from and was overjoyed to see Harry descending the staircase, emerald green eyes guarded but nevertheless looking steadily at him.

[_I'm fine Nagini. Has Harry been well?_] He patted the snake on her head.

[_He's been very well. He just kept drifting off into his own thoughts._] Nagini's voice was filled with laughter. In the past, Harry would never get lost in his own thoughts in the middle of a conversation, since Voldemort left, Harry's periods of distraction grew more and more frequent and in the last two day, Harry had spent all his time in Voldemort's study, he said he was just reading there, but every time Nagini had gone in to see Harry, he had been staring at the same page.

Voldemort walked up to Harry in several long strides and quickly examined him from head to toe. After these two weeks, Harry's normally full and healthy face had slimmed down a little, emphasizing his sharp little chin, other than that, his spirits didn't seem to have suffered. "You've grown a little thin, did you not like the food the house elves have been making?"

Harry hurriedly shook his head, "No, I liked it."

"Then why have you lost weight?" Did Harry miss him? Voldemort was filled with happiness at the thought.

"Um, I was too fat so I was dieting." Ever since they had become uncle and nephew, this was the first time Voldemort had left him for such a long period of time, the only contact they had had was each morning's owled letter, which was written before Voldemort went to bed the night before, all his other time was filled with meetings and business. But Harry wasn't willing to tell Voldemort that he hadn't had much of an appetite because he hadn't seen Voldemort for so long. He had already decided that he would accept no deviations to his goals and targets.

Voldemort almost laughed at hearing Harry's words, Nagini had already slithered away to roll in laughter. It had taken more than a year of nutritious and delicious food for Harry to lose his almost emaciated form and gain the more filled out physique of a normal teenage boy, Harry had no need to lose any weight.

Harry's attempt at deception was truly atrocious.

"Don't diet Harry, you look better with more weight on you." Voldemort put his arm around Harry's shoulders, "You're too thin."

After reaching the living room, Voldemort dismissed the house elves and sat down on the couch with his arm around Harry's waist.

After moments lost in thought, Harry was unable to push down all his numerous doubts and concerns. He was not blind, he could clearly see that Voldemort was exhausted after the furor of the past two weeks, what he should be doing is resting. Everything else can wait until after the beginning of term, there was no rush. "Voldy, please go rest, we still have to go to Hogwarts tomorrow for the start of term."

The words filled Voldemort's heart with warmth, even though Harry was still unwilling to get close to him, these simple words of concern still made him very happy, his feelings of fatigue felt like they have completely evaporated.

"It's alright, I'm not tired. There are some things that I have to tell you in person."

"So, the investigation yielded results?" Harry waited a moment, then couldn't help but ask.

Voldemort nodded softly, "Under the combined talents of the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters, even the best hidden secret would be discovered."

"Who was responsible?"

"The goblins."

**56-58.**

In Harry's mind's eye appeared the image of those pointy eared figures in Gringotts, with their sharp claws and red uniforms, they were greedy, devious and magically strong. "They… attacked for their own gain?"

This was not the first time that goblins had attacked wizards, the last time they were more open about it and this time they had taken the most crafty route.

"They wanted to use the chaos generated to squeeze some profits for themselves, but their plan backfired, the giants and trolls slipped their leash, they had no idea things would turn out like this." Voldemort scowled, those midgets would always just be a bunch of clowns.

Harry still did not understand, "How did they control the Inferi? And how did they get their hands on the potions to create the magic sapping field?" Goblins had no skills in these areas.

"Of course they had accomplices in the magical world, but most of them have been eliminated." Recalling the recent purges in the magical world where everyone was afraid of their own shadows, Voldemort smiled coldly. So many were taken in, it was hard to say how many were actually in league with the goblins but he would rather err on the side of caution than to let a single guilty person go free. Dumbledore had been adamantly opposed at first but had capitulated under the pleading of most of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. In the face of harm to their own flesh and blood, there was no room to consider the fears of others.

"So, what's the final verdict against the goblins, giants and trolls? They won't be let off just because they're rare magical creatures right? Even though the attacking force itself was not that great in number, they must have all been involved in the planning."

"The ring leaders were of course sent to Azkaban and given the Dementor's kiss, accomplices were sent to the underground ice prison in the Northern Ice plains, for a term of 200 years, the "Preservation of Magical Creatures Act" will be amended, the rights of goblins, giants and trolls have all been relegated to the lowest level they have ever been." Voldemort related the facts evenly.

That was not all, for example Voldemort had wanted to wrest control of Gringotts from the goblins and transfer it to the hands wizards but that had been vetoed by Dumbledore, "Not every goblin was involved in this incident Professor Voldemort, the goblins of Gringotts have always followed the edicts of the magical world." Damnit, he had planned to use this excuse to take over Gringotts, but the old coot had ruined his plans.

Voldemort told Harry several more pieces of inside information.

Number 1- As Nagini predicted, the new Minister for Magic was neither Bartemius Crouch nor was it Frank Malfoy, instead it was some elderly member of the Wizengamot, Crouch and Malfoy had both been made senior undersecretary instead.

Number 2- The Quidditch World Cup has been rescheduled to October 20th at the same stadium. There will be no tickets sold for this match, nor will there be any VIP boxes, wizards will be able to enter freely and move around each section to watch the match, as a sort of remembrance for the wizards and witches that died on August 15th.

Number 3- Harry would be receiving an Order of Merlin, First Class, the ceremony will be held on December 15th at Hogwarts and a statue of Harry will be unveiled at the same time.

"A statue?" Harry couldn't help grimacing. He had read on the paper that there was something about a statue but he had paid it no mind, he hadn't realized that they were really going to erect a status for him. "It's too much." Harry mumbled.

"Not at all. You saved more than ten thousand wizards and witches, erecting a statue of you is nothing." Voldemort thought that this was not enough. But his little Harry had no ambition and only wanted peace and quiet, if some other child had done something so monumental, like that James Potter, he would probably be expecting to be made the Minister for Magic.

Number 4- After two weeks of planning, the Harry Potter Foundation was officially in business, 1000 orphanages will be opening all over the world to provide homes for orphans, single mothers will receive 100 galleons each month and will be given jobs at nearby businesses owned by Voldemort.

"Thank you Voldy." Harry could not hold back his gratitude and willingly embraced Voldemort. This man kept surprising him and bringing him joy, it made him feel both happy and bittersweet. This man, why did it have to be Voldemort? Why Voldemort?

"Are you truly happy Harry?" Voldemort was puzzled as he looked at Harry, who should have been overjoyed, but whose eyes were faintly lined with sorrow. What had happened to upset Harry? He truly wanted to know but was not confident that Harry would tell him. This child had too many secrets, like his abnormally strong power, like his ability to be calm and even brutal in combat situations, these things increased his mystique but they also filled him with terrible sorrow. Harry preferred to swallow this sorrow deep inside rather than sharing them. The people he sent had been unable to find anything about Harry prior to the age of eleven. If it wasn't for the difference in ages, Voldemort would have thought that Harry had used a time turner again. The only thing for certain was that Harry's past was complicated, and something in that past had given him his mysterious power and abilities, but it had also caused him a lingering pain.

Voldemort's words were a shock to Harry, in the man's eyes Harry could see the reflection of his own form and could see his own worry buried under the caring. He can't seem to feel happy whenever he recalls the tangled relationship between he and Voldemort. Voldemort was his enemy, one day he will kill his parents and almost kill him because of a prophecy. But it was also Voldemort who had given him the warmth of a true family, something that he had always yearned for but never found, he had made him feel warmth and caring that he had never felt before. Since coming to this time, he had hoped that one day he could live a peaceful and quiet life, no need to save the world, no heavily expectant eyes weighing on him, now that he was almost used to this kind of life, Voldemort's feelings were about to destroy it.

Determined, he turned this head, [_Nagini, I need to talk with Voldy, could you please…_]

Nagini flicked her tail and gave a hissing laugh, [_I know, I know, I'm leaving._]

The snake slithered quickly out of the living room.

"I think that I will not want to hear what you are about to say." Voldemort ignored Harry's slight struggles and pulled him into his lap. Looking at the determination on Harry's face, he realized that the boy had made a decision that he wouldn't want to learn about.

Harry turned away then quickly turned back to look at Voldemort, "Voldy, you like me, right?"

If Harry had asked something like this yesterday, Voldemort would have been ecstatic, but coupled with Harry's stubborn eyes, this question chilled Voldemort a little. For an instant, countless possibilities flashed through his mind, but finally he answered truthfully, "Like is not enough to express my feelings for you Harry, I love you."

"_I love you._"

Harry's mouth flooded with bitterness. He had expected something like this but the actual words still plunged him into helplessness, all the preparation and words were thrown to the back of his mind and Voldemort's tender gaze filled both his eyes and his heart and a pervading happiness mixed with threads of bitterness burned in his rapidly beating heart. He was familiar with this feeling, he had experienced it before. That time, a redheaded girl had shyly said "I love you", he had been both happy and sad, it was the bittersweet taste of love. He had not thought that he would feel this again more than ten years later and three decades from that point in time. The difference was that last time it was the sweetness that filled his heart, giving him the courage to continue fighting the enemy, and this time, it was sorrow that filled his heart, plunging it in ice. He had not realized that he was not unaffected, neither had he realized that he had fallen in love without realizing it. This man in front of him, with his tenderness and caring and even his domineering protectiveness had captured his heart, without realizing it he had given away his love. Falling in love was natural, as long as it was at the right time and with the right person. But he had fallen in love with the wrong person at the wrong time, he had fallen in love with the one who would kill his parents, the one who wants to kill him, he was in love with his sworn enemy. Perhaps they were not yet enemies in this time, put they would never be companions with similar goals, their ideals were at opposites, and an insurmountable gulf stretched between them, love would not be able to bridge that gap, love was not all powerful.

"Shouldn't you fall in love with a pureblood?" Harry lowered his eyes, asking his question in the tone of a statement. According to Voldemort's principles and ideals, he should choose a pureblood mate like someone from the Malfoy family.

Voldemort didn't know how to explain this to Harry, tell him that he had met the future, adult Harry when he himself had been a child? Tell him had he had fallen deeply in love with Harry from the time Voldemort had been child? Harry would think he was lying. "Ordinarily, that would be the case. But I met you. At first, I just wanted to look after a blood relative, but somehow, I found that I couldn't take my eyes off you anymore."

This was 100% true. He had loved the young man that had appeared in front of him one beautiful afternoon in his childhood, the tired yet determined face, his poise which held wisps of fatigue, kind, caring, decent, strong. The young man had given him the strength to live on, pointed him towards a clear future direction, urged him to give it his all and never give up, that apologetic yet caring embrace had filled his heart during countless lonely nights. Yet he also loved this youth standing in front of him, talented yet self-effacing, filled with deep thoughts yet wanting to live peacefully and low key, pure of heart and resilient, willing to work hard for his ideals and goals, holding his overwhelming sorrow deep in his own heart, that bright and moving smile. He isn't sure whether it was because Harry was that young man or because that young man was Harry, but the one in his dreams at night was no longer just that trembling yet courageous young man, there was also the resilient and self-effacing youth. His cheeks puffed in anger and unable to speak over his domineering ways, unwilling emerald eyes pulling out all his loving indulgence; willing to approach him for help to achieve his own goals, keen eyes looking at him as though he was the centre of the world, it was just that, back then, he had still thought that he had only been caring with Harry because of who he would mature into. It was at the shocking and bloody attack on August 15th, when he had rushed to the area under the dark mark to find the Quidditch pitch holding tens of thousands of people safely, yet he had not been able to create a safe haven for Harry. "He went to save more people." Snape and Lucius had told him this with shame and lowered eyes. His heart had frozen, an underage wizard going up against resilient giants and even more terrifying Inferi? The emerging pain, frustration and hopelessness had made him start thinking, to wonder whether his heart had been irrevocably captured by the young Harry.

Harry's head was still lowered, the more Voldemort emphasized his feelings for Harry the worst he felt. He knows that Voldemort is speaking the truth. He had known Voldemort for a long time, a very long time, long enough that he could easily tell whether he was lying by observing his expressions and mannerisms, not even needing to use legilimency. When Voldemort was lying the corner of his mouth turns down a little, when he was speaking about his feelings his eyes narrow slightly, these are habits, very difficult to alter, because they would only be noticeable to someone who truly cared, no one had ever warned Voldemort and these habits had remained unchanged. When he had spoken a moment ago, Voldemort's eyes had been slightly narrowed, he was not lying.

"You love me, but I don't love you." Was Harry's cold reply to Voldemort's heated confession of love, "I will never love you." Rather than letting the love be slowly destroyed by future doubts and irreconcilable differences, it would be better to put out the as yet insubstantial flames.

Voldemort laughed softly, filling Harry's face with confusion, had his rejection shocked the confident Voldemort so much that he had lost touch with reality?

"Harry, is it that you _will_ never love me, or that you _don't dare _to love me?"

Harry's eyes grew slightly hazy, "Will never, don't dare, what does it matter, the fact is I _don't_ love you, the reasons are irrelevant."

"Do you really feel nothing for me?"

"It's not like I need to lie about something like this? Um—"

His chin, which was almost touching his chest, was abruptly and forcefully lifted and his delicate lips were covered by sensuous ones.

**59-61.**

Different from their last, more violent kiss, Voldemort's kiss was soft and lingering, the gentle sweetness of the slowly moving lips made Harry's head spin. Voldemort pried open Harry's teeth with ease and his agile tongue brought Harry to new heights of passion.

"You do not hate my kiss Harry, that at least tells me you have some affection for me." Voldemort's voice was rough and he was out of breath

Harry struggled to get out of Voldemort's lap and stand, his face growing flushed and then pale, he opened his mouth several time to give a retort but the words would die as they reached his lips. He gathering his courage to speak but his voice was barely audible, "It's not enough to have some affection, the differences between us are too great."

Taking a deep breath, Voldemort's eyes cleared as he suddenly understood, "Differences… you are talking about the differences between your stance and ideals and my goals and principles?"

Harry admitted, "Similar positions and outlooks are the basis of a relationship between two people."

Voldemort did not agree with this view, what constituted similar positions and outlooks? Was it as simple as a similar stance and ideals? Was liking to research dark magic similar positions or outlooks? Would liking Quidditch suffice? "There are many kinds of outlooks and positions…"

"Similar ideals and principles are vital. Too much divergence would bring about ruin."

Voldemort was not so sure, "Even so. Our differences are not as great as you imagine."

Harry was angered by Voldemort nonchalance, as though Harry was blowing this out of all proportion. "You hate muggles, to you they only exist to be playthings for purebloods; I believe muggles are smart, even without magic, they have come up with many ways to do things, they should have the same rights as wizards." At this he stopped then waved his hand tiredly, "We've had this discussion before, and both of us have conceded as much as we can, I tried to accept it, but I don't know if I will really be able to. If our relationship deepens, this will continue to plague me and cause me pain."

"Anything else?" Voldemort urged.

"You're too ruthless when you want to achieve some target or goal, you have no regard for human life when you make your plans, you don't keep your word and you're heartless, this… this is unacceptable to me." Just the thought that he had fallen in love with someone so lacking in morals and a conscience caused Harry's eyes to redden and fill with tears.

Harry's judgmental words did not upset Voldemort, rather they filled him with joy. Even though he was so despicable in Harry's eyes, he couldn't help feeling affection for him, this pleased him very much. "Even so, you still feel affection for me."

"That's because…" Harry's voice grew even softer, "Because you are so good to me." He felt slightly ashamed.

Voldemort hugged Harry's waist happily and softly laughed, "You spoke well. Love is supposed to be something that exists between two people Harry, what use is there in dragging so many others into it? When we are together, all that matters is that I am good to you and you are good to me, other people and situations are irrelevant. They are not you so of course I would not stay my hand. Even Dumbledore has done many not so "light" things under a benevolent exterior. Compared to him I believe I am just more open."

"Don't twist things around!" Harry replied angrily.

"I'm not twisting anything. History is written by the victors, the winning side is the righteous side. Dumbledore says that he is working for peace between the wizards and the muggles, I can also say that I am trying to eliminate the fanatical, magic hating and useless muggles." Voldemort lifted his hand to stop Harry from interrupting him, "I know what you want to say, you do not think that is "right" and this has resulted in much dissension and conflict between us, damaging our relationship. But Harry, why are you not thinking about ways to change the situation. When you feel that my actions are beyond your endurance, you can remind and urge me in a better direction, until the plans become something that both you and I can accept, this way you will no longer have to suffer. And with you by my side, I would not be too hard on the muggles."

Harry's head was spinning after hearing Voldemort's words, can the situation be taken this way? It seems to make sense, but there also seemed to be something wrong…

Seeing Harry's reaction, Voldemort knows that his logic processes were completely disrupted and hurriedly added, "The future is in our own hands Harry. Escaping or turning away will not resolve the issues, we must actively try to work on them instead, turn the situation in the direction we wish it to be in. If we try hard enough perhaps our future can become something else altogether."

Harry was stunned. Voldemort's words reminded him of the only real goals he had set for himself after coming to this time, to save his parents who will be murdered by Voldemort in the future, to save Sirius, and to make it so that Remus does not become miserable and destitute after losing both Sirius and his parents. His basis for not deepening his relationship with Voldemort was their past history, history that he was determined to change. If Voldemort does not kill his parents, would Harry still reject him? Or if he became involved with Voldemort, would it be possible that he would not kill his parents?

Harry's thoughts were completely scrambled and he didn't know what to do anymore.

Was the future truly unchangeable?

Voldemort caressed Harry silken black hair, "I will wait, wait for you to think over this clearly, until you understand." After all, Harry was still underage, he had plenty of time.

Voldemort's accommodating attitude caused Harry to let out a relieved sigh, he did need time to truly think about this paradoxical issue.

September 1st, beginning of term at Hogwarts.

Harry's arrival at Platform 9 3/4 this year was much more sensational, a twelve foot snake leading the way, one of the most power men in the magical world walking alongside him, a house elf pulling his luggage behind him.

His compartment was still the last one in the train, but his seat was covered with candy and cakes, Snape was still the only one in the compartment with him.

"Severus, is everything going alright?" Meaning Remus.

Snape nodded, his eyes filled with desolation.

Harry's compartment was quiet as usual, but in the third compartment, the unusually quiet James and Sirius were sitting and studying, not playing any pranks or going in search of Lily.

The evening before, the Potters had spoken with James and Sirius, advancing the mental age of the boys substantially in a single night.

At the time, Mr. Potter had spoken first, "Although Dumbledore hasn't said anything, we can see his concerns, he is worried that there is no one to take over after his is gone."

"That's not possible! Both Sirius and I are available." James objected loudly, exchanging a smug glance with his friend.

"I had thought the two of you would be suitable, but after seeing Harry Potter, I am not so sure." Mr. Potter shook his head sadly.

Sirius was not impressed as he argued, "Everything Harry Potter knows is restricted. Underage wizards are not permitted to apparate, and _Avada Kedavra_ is the worst unforgiveable out of the three. None of these are things respectable children like James and I should know.

Mrs. Potter nodded in agreement with Sirius' words, but immediately presented her counter arguments, "Sirius, you are talking about the peace time rules for underage wizards, but we are not at peace, war might break out at any moment. During the vicious attack on August 15th, some young wizards and witches did survive, some survived because of their parents' sacrifice, others survived because their parents had taught them dark magic or even unforgiveables. Of those children with relatives in the Order of the Phoenix or those from law abiding families who survived, none did so due to their own strength or efforts. On this point the Order is falling well behind the Death Eaters. This makes us greatly concerned over the future and the next generation of the Order."

Mr. Potter continued, "James, Sirius, you both think that it is wrong that Harry Potter can calmly cast the killing curse, is that correct?"

"Of course it's wrong!" Both boys shouted together.

Mr. Potter shook his finger and solemnly explained the situation to his two sons, "Firstly, when facing an enemy, one must stay calm, impatience can lead to defeat, secondly, on the battlefield, it is kill or be killed, if you can damage your enemy and protect yourself, it doesn't matter what spells you use, thirdly, if war breaks out, the ban against the three unforgiveables might as well not exist, your enemies will definitely use them against you, so you must use them against your enemies, that is, if you don't want to die." Seeing the combative, angry expressions on his sons' faces, Mr. Potter continued, "On this point Voldemort and the Death Eaters are way ahead of the Order, Voldemort has raised Harry Potter, a perfect heir. Even if he were to die right now, Harry Potter could take over from him and become the second emperor of the Death Eaters. What about us? If Dumbledore were to pass on, and our generation was no longer around, could you two children, who can't even think about the unforgiveables, really lead the Order of the Phoenix to war?"

"What we just pointed out is not what worries us most. Our biggest concern is the benefits Harry Potter has brought to Voldemort. Harry Potter's actions were too outstanding, not only winning acclaim, a medal and a statue, on some level it has changed how people view Voldemort and the Death Eaters. The people are saying that someone with such a kind nephew could not really be evil. Everyone that Harry Potter saved, and their families, many of them are willing to join the Death Eaters, and that is not counting the boys and girls that idolize him.

"Then what are we going to do? We can't let Voldemort lord it over us!" Sirius was completely enraged.

"The only thing you have to do is grow up as quick as possible. Become more mature and stable, react calmly, even ruthlessly. Learn to look at the big picture and act accordingly, do not let the little things distract you. You need to develop your strengths, you need to know about dark magic to be able to defend against it, you must be able to cast the unforgiveables at will. A war cannot be won by always being just, that would only increase the chance of failure." Mr. Potter made another series of suggestions.

Mrs. Potter guided the boys in another way, "I know that you have been targeting a Slytherin student called Snape."

Sirius smiled proudly and smugly, "James likes a girl so he thought he could demonstrate his abilities in front of her."

"Her name is Lily Evans? I remember you sneaking looks at her." Mrs. Potter was smiling as she looked at her son, but she also dumped a metaphorical bucket of ice water over his head, "I suspect that your behavior has not impressed her in any way, instead it has made her despise you."

"How did you know?" James blurted out, then scratched his head in annoyance, making his hair even more messy.

"I have spent some time with this girl, she is a very thoughtful and honorable child, this is why your behavior can only appear childish and immature in her eyes. A truly dependable man does not need to crush someone else's dignity to demonstrate his own strength, instead he should show his abilities when the girl needs him. Like helping a girl dispatch a Dementor, or killing giants to protect your companions… don't look at me like that," Mrs. Potter was unmoved by her son's indignant gaze, "That's right, I am talking about Harry Potter. Even though he is not on our side, that does not mean I cannot be impressed by him. He is one of the best wizards I have ever seen, adult or underage. As I see it, only Dumbledore may be better than him, and if Voldemort was not so evil, he may also be another.

James restrained Sirius as he was about to jump to his feet in anger, James' eyes were filled with never before seen determination, "I will not lose to him. What he can do, so too can I, what he cannot do, I will be able to." He vowed, he would win the war and utterly defeat Harry Potter.

As usual, Harry and Snape were the last to disembark from the train, Lucius was waiting for them in front of a carriage with his arm around Narcissa. But their eyes kept flicking towards the front of the carriage, Snape looked to see what had caught their attention and froze.

"What's up with you guys?" Harry poked his head out of the carriage and asked.

"There's something… in front of the carriage…" Snape squeezed out between his tightly clenched teeth.

Lucius and Narcissa were also uneasy, "They had never been there before, we thought we were imagining it. At least everyone can see them."

"They were always there, you just couldn't see them before. Only someone who has seen death can see thestrals, they're pretty good for pulling carriages, they fly pretty fast too." Harry placidly related the facts he had learned before, then pulled his head back into the carriage.

Hearing that they were thestrals, the three were quite uneasy, but at least they were able to get into the carriage.

After passing the great lake, the home of the giant squid, the noise of two first years arguing drifted towards them.

"Gryffindor is better! Dumbledore was a Gryffindor!"

"Slytherin is better! Harry Potter is in that house so it must be the best!"

Amusement appeared in the eyes of all four.

Getting out of the carriage, Harry walked up the staircase leading to the Great Hall, the students rushed forward to get a view of him but did not forget to leave a path for him to walk.

"Harry, you are now the most powerful student at Hogwarts." Snape said.

"In the near future, you will become an heir that Professor Voldemort could depend on." Lucius concurred.

Harry did not comment, in truth he gave the matter no thought, that was not his goal, his future… he just wanted to live peacefully, if Voldemort would let him.

Four students rushed past but after a glance at Harry and the others, slowed then turned back.

The one in the lead had messy black hair, deep blue eyes and features similar to Harry, as well as a similar figure, although this person was more sturdy—James Potter.

Harry wrinkled his brow, in the past five years, James had started needling Snape the moment they got off the carriages, he had thought that after these particular summer holidays, this arrogant fellow would curb his actions given that Harry had saved his life, it appears that he had expected too much. It was not entirely unexpected, even on that dark and bloody night, James had been filled with animosity toward him.

Coldly watching James descend the stairs until they were on a level, Harry took a deep breath and like Snape, who stood beside him with his body wound tight, he prepared for battle.

Unexpectedly—

"Harry Potter, thank you for saving my life that night, and thank you for saving Sirius and Remus." James' smile was stiff, but his gratitude was sincere though his voice was a little loud, it was clearly audible to the students around he and Harry. "Snape, thank you for saving Remus."

Harry and Snape looked at each other blankly, Lucius and Narcissa were likewise confused.

What was James Potter doing?

"I'm sorry Harry Potter, my friends and I behaved badly that day, I hope you will not take it to heart." James didn't seem to have seen the guardedness and astonishment in Harry's eyes and continued on, "Snape, I must apologize to you for the things I have done in the past, I hope that you can forgive me."

Sirius immediately repeated the same sentiments in his own words.

They're up to something!

Harry and Snape exchanged a look, then unobtrusively glanced at Lucius, "It's nothing James Potter, we're all fellow students here, there was no need to apologize to me so formally. I accept your apology." No matter what James was up to and no matter what would happen later, given that James had apologized, it was necessary for them to be magnanimous in return.

Snape nodded at James, "Like Harry said, we are all fellow students. As you have not been too hard on me in the past, and have now formally apologized, let the past be put to rest."

"I'm awed but your generosity." James still seemed quite sincere as he looked at Harry, "Harry Potter, I hear that you will be Slytherin's new seeker."

"That's right."

James' eyes brightened, "I look forward to our match in October, it's bound to be very exhilarating."

"It will not disappoint you James Potter." Harry's smiled slightly.

"Well, we'll just go then." James acted as though he had just been chatting with a friend, then calmly left.

"What was he trying to do?" Lucius asked with revulsion, "He wouldn't really be trying to be friendly with Slytherins right?"

Harry shook his head as he smiled, "Of course not." He eyes swept to the side for a moment, "He's only acknowledging his mistakes in the past, we can only say he is growing up and taking responsibility. This can only be good for his image."

Lucius followed Harry's gaze then raised his brow, "I don't think that that is sufficient reason, he must be planning something else."

Snape's voice was chilly as usual, "I also believe that James Potter is not someone who will bow his head for a woman."

Harry smiled confidently, "Who cares, it's not like he could better Slytherins in strategy?"

"You're right, that is Slytherin's strength." Lucius raised his head in pride.

"We can turn his schemes back on him, let's see what kind of plans those idiots with more brawn than brains can come up with!" Snape's smile was evil.

"Hey, Lily, did you see that? James apologized to Harry Potter and Snape! That's… I'm not saying that James was wrong to apologize, what he used to do to Snape was quite unbearable."

"… it seems that he is finally growing up after having faced death and Harry did not save his life in vain. That is how a Gryffindor should be like, isn't it?"

"Um, that's true. Hey, Lily, if James has really changed, would you like him?"

"Who knows whether that impatient fellow had really changed or if he's just planning something?"

A/N: This is so exciting, we are finally approaching the point where Crownofglory stopped, there will be "new" content on the next post! I hesitated over whether to start from the beginning but I truly feel that I can get a better feel for the characters this way. Sorry for making all of you wait so long for new content, hopefully I will be able to get the new post out tomorrow, or the day after at the latest. ; )


	8. Chapters 62 to 70

A/N: Here it is! I am feeling really worked up for some reason, but YES, I'm finally able to start doing what I intended to do, to make the rest of the story available! I am SO EXCITED! : P

Dear Agnieszka-luv-HP: Thank you for your comments, please be assured that I am not offended, you were very frank and matter of fact in your review and your criticism, if I would even call it that, since it's more a statement of fact, was definitely on the constructive side. I'd like to take this chance to share with you all the reasons behind the lack of beta, grammar/spelling errors and, because it is related, the speed with which I am posting the chapters.

As you all may have noticed, I am putting out a translated section pretty much daily, which is around ten thousand or so words translated each day. I am doing this by putting six or seven hours each day into the translation and I read through the finished work once before posting. I post the chapters knowing that there are still some remaining errors because I do not believe that the errors are large enough or numerous enough to truly affect the reader, although I could have the story beta-ed or go through it myself a couple more times to make the changes, I do not do this for several, mainly personal, reasons, 1) I fully intend to go through the whole thing and revise it once I have finished, as I am not totally happy with how I translated some of it, 2) I'm not allowing myself to read more than 10 chapters (equal to one post) ahead in Chinese, and that only rarely, because I'm afraid that I might lose both interest and momentum, so I will only learn what happens in the story a little earlier than all of you, and I want to read the whole story as soon as possible (some of you may think I'm nuts but I'm a little OCD that way and hey, it's to your benefit so I'm sure you won't mind: P) and 3) I don't want to use a beta yet, firstly because of point 1 and secondly, because it would greatly affect how quickly the chapters come out, if I asked for help to beta the story I would feel uncomfortable imposing any kind of time limit on the completion and therefore I would not be able to control the timetable for posting this work, which will have more than 27 ten thousand word chapters

So having weighed my options, I decided that the translation was okay enough to read as it is and that I would rather get it all done first and let you all read the not quite perfect chapters which I believe to be adequate, than to hold it all back for a month or so so that I can make what I think of as "cosmetic" changes. I would prefer to go back and fix everything up at a later date.

I hope this clears things up for all of you, once again your review did not offend me and I would love to hear from you again, you were not at all, obnoxious, rude, inconsiderate or condescending, instead you were complimentary and thoughtful and your question was genuine and I was glad to reply to you.

P.S. As for how fast I do this, I have no idea what the average or usual speed for translation is, what I mentioned above (around ten thousand words in 6 or 7 hours) is my usual speed when I'm writing/translating something that I am interested in.

Thanks.

Just a small warning, I'm sure you can all understand that it would be hard to maintain my current rate of posting given that there are a total of around 270 chapters, RL will be interfering and I might be coming down with a touch of the flue so I will likely not be able to continue posting 10 chapters a day for much longer so in future they may start to come a little slower, maybe one post every two or three days.

**62.**

The returning students entered the Great Hall and sat down, the first years were led into the hall by Professor McGonagall and Filch brought the sorting hat, it was obviously that the first years were intrigued by it.

After singing the usual lengthy song, the hat was finally in the mood to sort the students. This year, Slytherin had 35 new students, slightly more than in past years.

After the sorting Dumbledore reminded the students of the school rules then led the students in singing the school song. "One more announcement everyone."

Apart from Voldemort, whose expression was less than pleased, the heads of the three other houses were smiling happily.

"The goblin-planned attack on August 15th has made the problems in our students' magic glaringly obvious, both myself and your heads of house have discussed your curriculum," Dumbledore's smile was kind and grandfatherly but Harry had a very bad feeling. "And we all feel that it is necessary to increase our student's abilities in DADA through practical activities. Therefore, I am announcing Remedial Sessions for DADA every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00. I must inform all of you that the unforgiveables will be covered in these sessions."

The room was in an uproar before Dumbledore's words were finished. The unforgiveables had long been taboo in magical schools, no headmaster or headmistress had ever broken past the restrictions to teach them to students. Dumbledore dared to make this suggestion because he had accurately pointed out that the high rate of casualty in underage wizards during the goblin-planned attacks, was due how few damaging offense spells such as the unforgiveables were taught to students. The students were very excited over this, the unforgiveables were a taboo that underage wizards have only heard about but have never been allowed to touch on, just like Knockturn Alley. Students were filled with curiosity about them but could only keep away under that stern authority of their parents, hearing that they would be allowed to legitimately learn about them made students smirk like the cat that ate the canary.

The Slytherin table remained quiet, they sensed a strangeness from the expression of their head of house, it seems that this DADA Remedial Session would not be a simple after class tutorial. Ordinarily, as the goblin-planned attacks had been successfully resolved, the whole thing should have been put to rest and the magical schools would go on teaching as they always have, but Dumbledore, contrary to his usual methods, had decided to institute remedial sessions for DADA, what were his motives?

"To increase the abilities of those idiots with their heads in the clouds? To prevent too many casualties if the untrained take part if war breaks out?" Lucius traced the patterns of his wand with his finger as he speculated.

Snape shrugged, "Perhaps. Slytherins did performed rather well that evening.

"Headmaster Dumbledore hasn't finished speaking yet, keep listening." Harry lowered his voice as he whispered, a simple remedial DADA session or teaching the unforgiveables would not make Voldemort look like that, it seems that Dumbledore had not yet gotten to the crux of the matter.

Dumbledore was chuckling as he moved his outstretched hands in a downward motion, requesting silence from the students, as the noise died down, he continued. "The remedial sessions are to be attended by all students fifth year and up, fourth year students may report to your heads of house if you wish to audit the sessions, third year and below should focus their attention on their classes for now." Some lower grade students protested in anger but Dumbledore ignored them, "The location of the sessions will be the Hogwarts Great Hall. As for the instructor of the sessions, each of the professors had their own opinions and many felt that as professors, there would be certain obstacles to their communication with all of you during the sessions, as this would be detrimental to the performance of your practicals, it was decided that the sessions will be taught by our best and most powerful student instead."

The hall was totally silent and all eyes turned covertly towards the Slytherin table.

"His target is you Harry!" Snape and Lucius finally understood why Voldemort was so angry, if Harry was in charge of teaching the students of the other three houses, with his kind nature, he would likely teach them everything that he knows, thus increasing the enemy's strength.

"Mr. Harry James Potter, Mr. James Potter." Dumbledore announced loudly.

Harry stilled, James Potter? Then he stood and looked at James to find that his face was also filled with confusion.

"Mr. Harry James Potter will be teaching everyone DADA and Mr. James Potter will be assisting him." Noise broke out again before Dumbledore had finished his announcement.

"One more encouraging announcement everyone." Dumbledore indicated that both Potters should take their seats, "On December 15th Mr. Harry James Potter will be awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class and the statue erected in his honor will be unveiled, the ceremony will be held at Hogwarts. Various officials from the Ministry of Magic will be coming to the school for the ceremony, along with the headmasters and best students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang." He paused until the cheering of the students died down, "A ball will be held on that evening, all year levels may attend.

At that moment, the noise in the hall grew as loud as that evening on August 15th.

**63.**

Even the spectacular feast was not enough to hold the attention of the students, the students at three of the tables were in an uproar, loudly and excitedly discussing the remedial sessions. The Slytherin table was filled with whispers, as students secretively discussed how to get the most benefit out of the remedial sessions.

"Harry, perhaps you can teach something really difficult, let those idiots stew in their own ignorance." Lucius glared viciously at James.

Snape disagreed with Lucius, "Those people don't have a solid base in their spellwork, it would be better to start from the most basic things, you would get better results."

Even though Snape's comments were not completely altruistic, Harry did agree with him. From his experience with the DA, he understood that if the students do not have a solid foundation to work from but only had superficial knowledge of DADA and spells, they would likely become casualties during the war. "Better to start from basic spells then move up step by step."

After pudding was finished and the plates had disappeared from the tables, Lucius stood up and announced to the first years, "First years with me, I am your prefect Lucius Malfoy."

Snape grabbed Lucius' elbow, "What's the password?" Did Lucius intend for everyone to sleep in the corridors due to not having the password?

Realizing his mistake, Lucius hurriedly informed them, "_Inferius_."

"What kind of password is that?" Harry scowled. In his five years in Slytherin, the passwords had never been normal, they were always either bloodthirsty or narcissistic. Quite different to the light and quirky style of Gryffindor.

After the prefects had led the first years to their common rooms, the returning students also started to leave the tables. Harry looked over to the head table but found that Voldemort had already left.

"Professor Voldemort should be waiting for you at the common room." Snape pointed out what they were both already aware of.

The Slytherin common room was well lit and Voldemort's normally crimson eyes had deepened to a dark red, highlighting the ill mood of their owner. He had been called to the old coot Dumbledore's office right after he arrived at Hogwarts, the headmaster then joined forces with the other three heads of house to put pressure on him, touting the safety of the students, though their true target was Harry's unimaginable magical power. They intended to use these "remedial sessions" to try and determine Harry's understanding of magic and his ability to use it, they would then analyze and attempt to counter Harry's abilities so that they would be able to minimize the threat Harry posed to the Order of the Phoenix. No matter, he himself had intended to have Harry instruct the Slytherin students and had been concerned that Harry would not consent. Dumbledore's proposal had played right into his hands, as the Order attempts to lower Harry's influence through understanding his theories and practices, at the same time Voldemort can use these same things to elevate the strengths of the Death Eaters. Dumbledore is aware that this is a double-edged blade but he still took this step, it was a clear indication of the substantial shock that Harry and his actions had been to Dumbledore. He must be pulling his beard out over having handed such a useful and powerful tool to Voldemort on a silver platter. Well, he only had himself to blame! The old man had always thought that he had hidden his prejudices well, but this time he had lost his chance! Just the thought that Dumbledore could right now be sitting in his office, surrounded by odd trinkets as he agonized over his loss was a huge boost to Voldemort's spirits, sweeping away his annoyance due to the earlier meeting where he had been out-maneuvered by Dumbledore.

As he entered the common room, Harry was faced with Voldemort's gentle smile as he made his speech to the fourth through seventh year students, "Fourth years will all audit the sessions, sixth years are to pay utmost attention, Lucius and Severus, the two of you will revise the material covered at the sessions for all the students, this can be done on the next evening after the sessions, in the common room," The two bowed their acknowledgment, "Fifth years and seventh years, your workloads will be heavier with the end of year examinations, but Harry's sessions will help improve your school work so you must all pay attention to the material covered in the sessions." Turning and spotting Harry, he stood, "Harry, walk with me to my quarters, I need to speak with you."

Although Voldemort said that he needed to speak to Harry, he had remained silent right up until they reached the door to his quarters.

"Just say what you want, do you want me to teach useless things to the students of the other houses?" Harry was riled as he blurted out.

Voldemort looked surprised, "How could I ask you to do something so completely against your principles? Please teach them whatever you wish."

That was easy. Harry stared at the man suspiciously, he's not usually so accommodating so he must have something up his sleeve.

"Of course, it would be wonderful if you could hold an extra session for the Slytherins on Wednesdays." Voldemort was smirking as he outlined part of his plans.

Ah, there's the Voldemort he's come to know. "But the Slytherins might get too exhausted, what about an extra session every two or three weeks?" Harry wanted to smack himself right after the suggestion flew out of his mouth, why was it so easy to give in to this man?

"An extra session every two weeks will be fine." Voldemort felt better and better.

**64.**

The atmosphere in the Gryffindor common room was quite different to that of the Slytherin common room, most of the students were dubious as to whether Harry would truly teach them anything, after all the rivalry between the two houses was long standing and well established, and Gryffindor students had often antagonized Harry and Snape.

Some hesitantly asked James, "James, do you think Harry will deliberately make things difficult for us? Give us difficult questions so that we make fools of ourselves?" Part of the group nodded in agreement. They would be attending the sessions with the other three houses, it would be a great opportunity to embarrass them and Harry Potter is a Slytherin, it would be normal for him to have some scheme or other.

James scowled, "What are you all thinking? The fact that Harry Potter would save six Gryffindors from a giant during the goblin-planned attacks, tells us that he is not a narrow-minded, vindictive person. He is very generous, we would not have fared as well with some other Slytherin."

Sirius agreed, "If it was Snivellus… yeah if it was Snivellus, the whole of Gryffindor would have been sent to jump into the great lake in shame from his biting words alone."

"But what if he isn't truly intending to teach us?" Another student asked, "I doubt that Professor Voldemort would be so magnanimous as to allow his chosen and personally trained heir to turn around and teach magic to non-Slytherins."

That made sense. James waved his hand dismissively, "I don't believe Harry Potter is that kind of person. Even if he wanted to do something like that, he won't be able to just teach us useless rubbish, we would know, so we will end up learning something no matter what."

Many nodded in agreement at that, "That's right, with all four houses attending, we're bound to learn something new."

James sneaked a look at where the girls were gathered, Lily appeared to be speaking to Alice, but her eyes were peeking at him.

Score!

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were not only good friends, they also shared a dorm room and many of the things said in the dorm remained unacknowledged outside of it.

"James, when did you change your opinion of Harry Potter?" Remus was puzzled. How strange, he had seen James every day since August 15th, why hadn't he realized that James' opinion of Harry Potter had changed from thinking he was a coldblooded, ruthless Death Eater to thinking he was a kind and goodhearted young man?

"Change?" James snorted, "Harry Potter is the enemy, I don't believe he would ever stand with Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. A Death Eater will always be a Death Eater, they're all evil."

Peter stared at him in astonishment, "But… you just said a moment ago…" Several minutes ago he had truly thought that James had changed his mind and was at least thankful to that powerful young man for saving their lives.

"That's just a show." James fell lazily back onto the soft bed, "Dumbledore asked me to play along with Harry Potter and not fight with him publicly. If I fight with him all the time, not only will it not help show everyone his faults, it would make people think I'm impulsive, ungrateful and can't see the big picture." He smiled smugly, "I'm going to let everyone know that I've matured, that I'm no longer some kid who only knows how to prank people." He winked at Sirius as he asked proudly, "Did you see Evans' expression?"

Sirius nodded emphatically, his smile smug, "The girl's a little confused but it was obvious that she liked your speech and methods."

James' head swayed as though not wanting to recall unpleasant memories, "You know, she's never looked at me like that before, those pretty green eyes always used to be filled with anger and loathing." He was silent for a moment, "I'm not sure, is it because I've changed how I treat Harry Potter or is it because I'm behaving differently, that she's looking at me like that? No matter, I'm confident that she'll be mine sooner or later!" He abruptly clenched his fists as he silently vowed.

Remus' thoughts were a jumble as he witnessed his friends' high spirits, he was feeling unaccountably restless. If James still thought of Harry Potter as he enemy how would he be able to competently assist him?

"James, you're not going to play any tricks when you're assisting Harry Potter are you?"

James rolled his eyes at him, "Remus, who do you think I am? I'm James Potter, would I do something so underhanded as that? No, I have a better idea."

**65.**

"What kind of idea?" Two voices asked him at the same time, Sirius was excited while Remus was worried. He knew his friend well and he understood how sneaky James could be when he was trying to prank or trick someone.

"My idea, well…" James chuckled wickedly as he drew out his words, "Even though I'm thankful to Harry Potter for saving my life, in order to be able to win in the coming war, I believe Headmaster Dumbledore will understand if we fight a little dirty."

"Get on with it!" Sirius urged impatiently, he was curious as to how his friend was going to handle Harry Potter.

James sat up again, lying prone did not go well with outlining the sacrifice he was intending to make so that they will emerge victorious in the future. "It's quite simple. Harry Potter's reputation is too good at the moment and there's not benefit in going against him publicly, so during the summer holidays I decided to appear to get along with him peacefully. Now Headmaster Dumbledore has given me a great chance to get close to Harry Potter, why shouldn't I make use of this chance?"

Peter continued timidly, "You intend to trick Harry Potter into trusting you?"

Sirius shook his head disbelievingly as he looked at James, hoping that his friend would give up on this crazy idea, it just wasn't worth it. "James, there's no need to sacrifice yourself like that, I don't think Dumbledore would want that for you." The only interaction they can have with those slimy, snakelike Slytherins is fighting, he did not want to watch his friend do something that was completely counter to his heart.

Remus was also in disagreement, for entirely different reasons to Sirius. On the one hand, he did not want his friend to have to make friends with people his detested, on the other hand he did not want the only Slytherin who was obviously lacking in deviousness to be deceived, even if the deceiver was Remus' friend. Perhaps because he had not yet been with Voldemort for too long, but Harry Potter's eyes were still clear and innocent, they were the eyes of someone easily hurt. Also, there was Severus Snape, the Slytherin who was so fond of dark magic, the same one who was willing to risk his own life to push him out of the way of an attacking giant, getting wounded in the process, even though he was cold and unlikeable, the worry and sincerity in his eyes as had saved Remus could not have been faked. If James hurt Harry Potter, Snape would be enraged. Remus would also feel like he had failed Snape, after all it would be Remus' friend that had hurt Snape's friend.

"James, I don't think you should do this."

James had expected that he friends would not agree with his plan, but he did not intend to give up on it. The more he thought about it, the better he liked his plan, plus there was a golden opportunity to execute the plan right in front of him, he would not be James Potter if he didn't make the most of it.

"For the Order of the Phoenix, for Dumbledore, and for victory, it's a small sacrifice. Some things are worth sacrificing our lives, this is just consorting with the enemy. We could gain so much from befriending Harry Potter. If I'm in awe of his magic, once I'm his friend I would be justified in asking him to teach me, then I can turn around and teach it to the Order, it's better than him teaching it to Death Eaters right? Also, if I was friends with that kid, I could use him to gain information on the Death Eaters, or slip him false information on the Order, even if he appears like he'll be taking a neutral path after graduation, because he's Voldemort's nephew he would still be likely to have vital insights or information."

"I doubt Professor Voldemort would let you get away with that." Remus still wanted to convince James to give up this idea.

James had already taken this point into consideration, "Well, everyone knows about Harry Potter's failed "friendship" with Evans," James had to squeeze that word out through his clenched teeth, "But times have changed. This time last year Harry Potter wasn't Voldemort's nephew and Voldemort despised him, now he cares for Harry Potter very much, I mean, to be frank, he treats him more like a lover than a nephew. So Voldemort won't be displeased with Harry Potter just because he's friends with a Gryffindor. That's not even really the issue, my biggest concern is how to gain Harry Potter's trust. It won't be easy to change from enemies to friends, oh well, I can only take it one step at a time. Harry Potter is sentimental and softhearted and that's something I could exploit." He smiled self-deprecatingly, "I know that this isn't right, it's not something a Gryffindor should do, but they're the enemy, if they win the war muggles and muggleborns will suffer, we can't allow that to happen." He emphasized, "Ever."

Remus was silent, emotionally he could not agree with James' methods but rationally he agreed. Muggles and muggleborns were not at fault, so why should they be treated like they were sub-human?

**66.**

The next morning, Hedwig, who looked gorgeous, flew to Harry and stretched her left leg out for Harry to remove the attached letter. After taking the letter, Harry fed her a small piece of cake and she dipped her head into Harry's goblet to drink some pumpkin juice. As Harry and Voldemort got closer, Hedwig's treatment also improved. Not only does she get the newest flavors in owl treats, everyday Voldemort's house elves would bring sweet, delicious cakes and pumpkin juice to her in the Owlery.

Having drank her fill, Hedwig flapped her wings then flew to Harry's shoulder, affectionately rubbing her head against her master's cheek, she flew back the way she came only after Harry had stroked her lovingly.

"Who's the letter from?" Snape asked as he looked a little enviously in Hedwig's direction, if only he could have such an intelligent and understanding pet.

Harry unrolled the parchment and a familiar yet long unseen, narrow, loopy writing appeared before his eyes. When Harry had gone to Hogwarts in that other past, he had seen this writing many times, he had also received much shrewd teachings from the writer and in sixth year that person had tutored him individually for a full hear. Dumbledore, snowy white hair and long white beard, eyes constantly twinkling with intelligence and kindness, but Harry's current relationship with the man was vastly different than before.

Of course Harry was part of the reason for this, having given up on the war after arriving in this time, Harry felt that he had let Dumbledore down, Dumbledore had placed so much hope in Harry and had sacrificed so much for him, every time Harry looked at this kind old man he had felt guilty, and couldn't say a word. But a greater reason was Dumbledore subconscious differential treatment of students. Of the four Hogwarts houses, comprising more than 800 students, Dumbledore was most partial and most caring of the Gryffindors. He loved those passionate and reckless children, they shone like sunlight, especially James Potter and Sirius Black and from the time these two started school he had favored them. Second in his affections was Ravenclaw, smart, conscientious, always wanting to climb higher intellectually, Ravenclaws were doubtless the favorites of every professor as no teacher would dislike smart, competent students. Frank Longbottom was an excellent example. In third position was Hufflepuff. Although Hufflepuffs were stupid and inept compared to the other houses, liking to boost and gossip, they were also kind and easily guided. The house Dumbledore disliked the most was Slytherin. Most Slytherins were from pureblood wizarding families with very few halfbloods and not a single muggleborn. These purebloods were often heirs to hundreds of years of old traditions from even older families, as well as wealth accumulated over many generations and lofty titles and status, they were able to secretly manipulate many aspects of the magical world. The children from these families were often self-centered, insular, bigoted and entrenched in dark magic, holding contempt for everyone not a pureblood. Dumbledore wants to love them, he had tried to love them, but he just couldn't, in return, the Slytherins were contemptuous of his authority. The situation changed drastically after Voldemort joined the school, he easily gained control and dominion over Slytherin house, he was also able to simultaneously block Dumbledore out of Slytherin house and expand his influence into students in the other three houses. After weighing both sides of the situation, Dumbledore had decisively abandoned Slytherin house, although it was a shame to lose the worthy students in Slytherin, of which Harry was one.

Dumbledore's missive was brief and to the point as usual, it was also slightly comical.

_Dear Mr. Harry Potter,_

_Please come to my office after breakfast._

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. I am fond of cockroach clusters_

Cockroach clusters? After a moment of bemusement Harry shuddered. The thought of such a disgusting password for the gargoyle was surprising but in line with Dumbledore's usual style.

**67.**

Given Dumbledore's letter, Harry asked Snape to inform Professor Flitwick for him then went to the ugly stone gargoyle. "Cockroach clusters." He said uncomfortably.

The gargoyle jumped aside and the wall behind it broke apart and spiraled up into the staircase. Harry walked up the stairs and approached Dumbledore's office.

He knocked on the door, "Come in." The lightness of the aged voice clearly indicated Dumbledore's pleasant mood. Harry did not hear any sounds of conversation between the portraits of past Headmasters and Dumbledore.

Harry entered and was surprised to see James sitting in a chair, drinking mead.

Dumbledore's office was just as he remembered, portraits of past headmasters and headmistresses hanging on the wall and the large desk covered with weird and obscure little silver trinkets. Dumbledore was wearing a silver robe today, with a pointy, dark blue hat embroidered with moons and stars.

"Please be seated Mr. Harry Potter." Dumbledore transfigured another chair for Harry then poured another goblet of mead, "Madam Rosmerta's finest mead, more than worth the price."

Harry took the goblet then glanced unobtrusively at James. The boy appeared happy, he tried to appear calm but his eyes sparkled with excitement betraying his current heightened mood. Obviously the two had held a discussion prior to Harry's arrival.

"Headmaster, you wanted to see me?" Harry already had a vague idea that it was in regards to last night's announcement, which was why James was also here.

Dumbledore did not answer but instead raised his goblet, indicating that Harry should sample the mead, "Don't be so uptight, please relax. Mr. James Potter just had a drink, the flavor is quite good, I would like your opinion on it." He took a sip as he smiled, leaning leisurely back into his chair.

Harry non-commitally took a sip, it did taste quite good, he often drinks it with Voldemort. "It's delicious, headmaster. Perhaps I will have another option to butterbeer and cider the next time I go to Hogsmeade."

"No no no," Dumbledore shook his finger, "This is not something you can easily get even if you have the money, Madam Rosmerta only gifts those she respects with this mead, such as your uncle and I."

Harry almost spewed out his mouthful of mead, Rosmerta respected both Voldemort and Dumbledore? You might as well just say that one of the two likes to throw their power around to get what he wants. "Then I will get some from my uncle."

"I believe Professor Voldemort would be happy to give you some." Dumbledore seemed satisfied with Harry's opinion of the mead, and moved to the real purpose of the meeting, "Mr. Harry Potter, I asked you to come here today in hopes of resolving some small issues between you and Mr. James Potter."

Harry immediately offered a differing view, "Headmaster, I do not believe that there are any issues between Mr. James Potter and myself, we can interact amicably."

"Well, Mr. James Potter did do some mischievous things in the past…"

"Mr. James Potter has already apologized for that, so I do not believe that he and I have any problems anymore." Harry immediately said.

Dumbledore was overjoyed, "That is wonderful. But if that is the case, you should not be calling him Mr. James Potter anymore, you are fellow students, just call him James."

James… The corner of Harry's mouth twitched uncontrollably, finding that form of address quite horrific. Turning to look at James, he was puzzled by the placid expression, as though the situation was natural and commonplace. That was overdoing it a little. Harry was somewhat amused, this kind of expression only confirmed that there was some kind of secret understanding between James and Dumbledore. If so, he was willing to play along with this child. Extending his hand, "How are you James?" Harry said.

James' expression as he heard Harry calling his name was quite entertaining, completely unwilling yet having to hide that behind a feigned look of eager anticipation, a forced smile was looked more like a grimace. Although hesitant, he still determinedly reached out to take Harry's hand, as though making a tremendous sacrifice, in an overly cheerful voice he replied, "How are you Harry?"

Inside, Harry was laughing so hard he was worried he would go into convulsions.

**68.**

Dumbledore rubbed his glasses happily, "Wonderful, this is how things are meant to be." There was another period of ruminating, as Harry was about to impatiently recall his attention, he returned to the topic at hand, "I called the two of you here today for several reasons, firstly, it was to resolve any issues between you, after all you will be working together for a long period of time, it would not do for you to continue to see each other as enemies, secondly, it was to ask if there was anything I can do to help you prepare for the remedial sessions that will be beginning next week."

James looked towards Harry, he had no idea, after all, he was only the assistant, all the planning should be done by Harry.

Dumbledore's words were a reminder to Harry and after careful consideration, he said, "Headmaster, there are some areas in which I require you assistance."

Dumbledore smiled and indicated that he should continue.

"As these are remedial sessions for DADA, some dark magic props will be necessary, such as boggarts, redhats, giants, trolls, dementors, dragons…"

James jumped as he got more and more disturbed, feeling frantic he said, "Harry… there no need to include giants, even trolls… it's too dangerous…" At Dumbledore's and Harry's combined stare, his voice grew lower and lower until it was inaudible.

Harry looked at Dumbledore but the sly old man had no intention of explaining, Harry had no choice but to do it himself, "James, didn't giants and troll appear on August 15th? Those monsters will not stop attacking us just because we're kids, instead our youth and lack of magical power would incite them to even greater heights of viciousness. If the DADA that we will be practicing can include the unforgiveables, why would it be necessary to avoid the creatures that we might encounter? We are trying to be prepared for anything and everything, it would not do to have another bloody proof of our ineptness in DADA before we considered everything."

"Harry is right, please continue, is there anything else?" Dumbledore's face was filled with joy and relief, making James' heart feel like a leaden lump in his chest.

"If possible, I would like to also have Inferi and werewolves." Harry concluded calmly. Yes, that would about include all the creatures that might be a part of the coming war.

Dumbledore nodded, "Very well my child. You have been very thorough. Please tell me which creature you require for each section one week in advance."

One week… how efficient. "Also, I would like for the other three heads of house to provide me with a list of students' names and sexes for the three years attending the sessions, we will need to sort the students into groups during the practicals. I can't think of anything else right now but I will inform you if anything else comes up."

Dumbledore agreed to discuss this with the heads of house when they have a staff meeting at noon, the list would be provided to Harry no later than tomorrow morning, after that the two students left the headmaster's office.

They descended the staircase and walked past the wall, then the gargoyle returned to it's position. Harry smiled wickedly but smoothed his face before James noticed he then said solemnly, "James," As expected James shuddered, then immediately straightened his expression, trying to appear calm, "Do you have classes this afternoon?"

"Two…"

"What a coincidence, I also have two, well then, I'll see you at the library after class." Harry said, then unhurriedly picked up his book bag and prepared to go to charms class.

"Ha…Harry, why are we meeting at the library?" He hadn't put his plan into place yet, they were not yet so close that they would be doing their homework together at the library, were they?

Harry was perplexed as he turned around, "To discuss the plans for the remedial sessions of course. We will need a well planned syllabus. I'm afraid it will take us the remaining three days of the week to discuss this." The Library was the ideal place, not only was it quiet but any necessary reference would be right on hand, he even has a permission slip from Dumbledore for the restricted section.

"Oh…" James realized that he had misunderstand and gave an embarrass twitch of his lips, "Great, see you then." He escaped after that by running away.

Harry was completely bemused at the sight, why was he running away, it wasn't like Harry was interested in taking James' book, "Basic Guide to Occlumency"

**69.**

On rejoining charms class, Snape worriedly asked why Dumbledore wanted to see Harry and Harry repeated the conversation. This stirred a lot of interest in Lucius and Snape. Boggarts and redhats weren't such a big deal, but giants, trolls, even Inferi and werewolves! This was definitely a wartime oriented training program!

But Lucius quickly grew despondent, "It's a wonderful program, it's just a shame that we'll have to share it with the other houses."

Snape was not so against it, in his eyes, even if the four houses were learning together, it is likelihood of the other three houses being able to learn such high level dark magics, that was the issue worth considering. "There's no need to be so concerned Lucius. Don't forget, Harry will be giving Slytherins an extra session every two weeks, we will definitely be able to leave those idiot Gryffindors far behind."

The last class before lunch was DADA and Voldemort kept Harry back after class, "Harry, have lunch with me in my quarters." He lightly kissed Harry's temple.

Harry's thoughts were in a tangle from Voldemort's actions, they had only been apart for one day, but this man's gentle, loving attention was already having a deeper impact on Harry. If it wasn't for the still unresolved issues between them, Harry might have already been overwhelmed by the sweetness of this light, almost non-existent kiss. "…alright," He mumbled a reply then took a step back, widening the distance between he and Voldemort and refusing to look at the deep affection in the man's eyes, not wanting to be reminded of the man's loving indulgence, finally, he could breathe normally again. "It must be better than what the other students are having for lunch."

Usually, Voldemort's living room was Nagini's domain, Voldemort was used to eating with the other students and teachers in the great hall. But now that Voldemort was here with Harry, poor Nagini was relegated to her own room.

[_Just you wait, I'll have my revenge!_] Nagini said unclearly as she slithered away with a delicious grilled steak in her mouth.

[_I look forward to it, don't make me wait too long._] Voldemort lazily replied as he happily fed Harry another succulent grape, not worried at all over Nagini's threats.

Harry loved to eat fruit, this was a new habit that he had developed in the past year. Voldemort does everything he can to indulge Harry, not letting him suffer even a little bit of bitterness, it had gotten so that Harry could not even take the slightest sourness in food. "You're spoiling me." Harry complained as he complacently ate the grapes that Voldemort had hand-peeled and were placing at Harry's lips.

"This is just the beginning, my dear." When he gives Harry the whole world, Harry will get much more than this.

Voldemort's house elves brought lunch; chicken pasties, steak, fried egg, baked chicken, roasted goose, as well as a bowl of milky white seafood chowder. The wine was a '50s Bordeaux. Ice cream cake, strawberry pudding, and blueberry pie were brought after the main courses were taken away, there was also Rosmerta's finest mead.

"It's too much, we can't finish all of this." Harry complained with a pout. Then he opened his mouth and ate the piece of cake that Voldemort held to his lips. Voldemort didn't eat desserts so all the sweets were prepared for Harry alone.

"You should eat more," Voldemort was disapproving as he looked at Harry, still too thin, a sixteen year old should not be the size of a fourteen or fifteen year old, and this was already the result of three solid means as well as late snacks over a whole year. "The way you look, someone might think I was starving you." After a pause, "I would think so too."

Harry was feeling a little self-conscious, since coming to this time, his body had not been as strong as it was before, in appearance he was weaker, but his power had conversely grown stronger, his agility and speed had also increased.

"Enough, no more." Rubbing his rounded stomach, Harry refused anymore food.

The house elves took away the dishes then brought tea. Harry held the delicate cup between his hands and slowly sipped at the tee. Here it comes.

Voldemort started his interrogation. "Why did Dumbledore ask to see you this morning."

Harry repeated the conversation, "It wasn't anything special."

Voldemort's smile was faint, "Oh? What a wonderful training program, what do you have planned for the Slytherins?

Harry lifted his head and curled his lips in a huge, fake smile, "It's a secret!"

Voldemort rubbed his nose then gave up, if Harry didn't want to tell him something, he would not give any answers no matter how much he asks. But what about the other young man, "Dumbledore must have said something to James and it is definitely not to your benefit."

"That didn't happen, at least not this time." Harry said confidently.

**70.**

"How can you be certain? You don't know how devious Dumbledore is!" Voldemort was furious as he glared at Harry.

There was a good reason why Voldemort considered Dumbledore his greatest enemy. Even thought Dumbledore was quite old, instead of growing more feeble with the passage of time instead he grew more experienced and cunning. It was hard to believe that the old coot had been a Gryffindor when he graduated, the characteristic bullheadedness and foolhardiness of Gryffindors seems to have passed him by, instead he seemed to possess the keen intelligence of a Ravenclaw and the cunning of a Slytherin. The first time Voldemort and Dumbledore had met, he had realized that the Harry who had come from the future to kill him had to have been sent by Dumbledore, only Dumbledore could raise such a prodigy, and only Dumbledore would be able to stand to the end against Voldemort's towering intellect and incredible power. The facts bore out his supposition, the old coot had watched him suspiciously all through his schooling, treating him with blatant insincerity, he can feel that the old man was somehow spying on him at all times. This made his every step at Hogwarts fraught with difficulty, even after releasing the basilisk with after much effort, he was only able to kill one insignificant and curious girl before he was stopped. When he had framed the half giant for this incident, Dumbledore had once again stepped in and helped the bumbling fool, making him the Keeper of the Keys and the Groundskeeper, even Hagrid's wand was not destroyed. Luckily Dumbledore's reach did not extend everywhere, once he had left Hogwarts, the world was his playground, Voldemort could finally break free of those seemingly all-seeing eyes, everything he now had, he had gained through his strength and determination. But this in turn made him more wary of Dumbledore, the sly old coot, if he were not just as sly and cunning, he would have been manipulated like a puppet since he was a boy. As yet underage and lacking if societal experience, Harry would be no match for Dumbledore.

Harry was feeling a little guilty. He didn't think anything of it at the time, but had instead just automatically acted, thinking back, he felt more and more out of sorts, as though he had done something dishonorable, taken advantage somehow.

Seeing the expressions flash across Harry's little face, Voldemort tugged Harry into his lap; still light as a feather, he needs to eat more. Rubbing Harry's stomach to aid his digestion, he apologized softly, "I am sorry I was so harsh, don't be mad." He thought that Harry was upset because he had scolded him, so he tried to make amends, "I was only concerned about you, you don't know how devious Dumbledore is, you're too pure, too inexperienced in these matters, it would be easy for him to deceive you." Not knowing how Dumbledore had tried to deceive Harry, he quickly tried to find out, so that Harry would not fall into Dumbledore's traps. "What did Dumbledore say to make you think that they had not been discussing ways to "deal with" you, can you tell me?"

Harry scratched his head uneasily, the diamond barrettes immediately restoring his hair to neatness. Harry pouted in annoyance, he didn't want to tell Voldemort, it wasn't something that was honorable. Finally, he decided to tell him anyway. "It wasn't anything Dumbledore did or said, it was James Potter."

"He… did he do something?" Voldemort froze in shock.

"… well… as I said, after leaving Dumbledore's office, he and I talked for a bit outside the wall near the gargoyle."

Voldemort was grinding his teeth, "Yes, you did say that, you also said that you were. Meeting. With. Him. Alone. For. A. Date. This. Afternoon." The words were bitten out one at a time.

That's strange, the room was quite cool, why was he suddenly feeling a bit of heat? His cheeks were feeling especially warm. "No, no-ot a d-date! We're just going to discuss the syllabus for the remedial sessions." Harry was perplexed, why was he stuttering? He almost felt like he'd been caught cheating on his lover, no no no, caught stealing…. whatever, he was just feeling very guilty for some reason.

After stuttering out several more explanations, he lifted his head and saw a faint smile on Voldemort's face, as though he was privy to some secret, Harry suddenly deflated, whatever, this git was just having him on! "Are you going to listen or not!"

"Yes, of course I'm listening." Voldemort smiled sneakily, Harry was so adorable when he was embarrassed. Even though Harry still had some concerns, there was light at the end of the tunnel for their relationship.

"I used legilimency on James Potter." Harry was mortified as he mumbled.


	9. Chapters 71 to 82

A/N: Thanks everyone for your kind reviews and caring comments (especially Wrydsmith- don't worry I'm taking care of myself)

**71.**

Harry really was feeling quite guilty about what he had done, because he was so much more powerful than James there wasn't really much chance that the two of them would be in any kind of conflict in the near future, using legilimency under these circumstances was really a little too much. Even if he didn't know what kind of schemes James was hiding in his mind, with his intelligence and experience, it wasn't like he would have been duped by an inexperienced novice like James anyway.

Harry could only attribute his bizarre action to two things, the first was the bloody and terrible war that he had been through in the past. For him it had only been six years since the war, six short years was not enough for Harry to be able to blithely forget the paranoia, hyper-vigilance and other war time habits that he had maintained every minute of every day over a significant period, back then, the first reaction on encountering the enemy was to use legilimency to see if he could glean any useful information from their minds. Luckily, unlike Hermione, he had not gotten into the habit of casting cutting curses the moment he met an enemy. The second was obviously the past five years he had spent in Slytherin, during which he had picked up some really bad habits, like wanting to know the thoughts of everyone who associated with him, so that he could get close to his target or sabotage any plans his target might be making. This is why he had unconsciously and without guilt, dipped into James' mind using legilimency. Of course, now he was feeling guilty.

"Oh? Legilimency?" Voldemort was shocked as he repeated, unable to believe his ears. Had his little Harry just told him that he had used legilimency on James Potter? His kind and tolerant little Harry who never retaliated against his oppressors?

On seeing Harry's ashamed nod in response, Voldemort was so thrilled that he immediately planted a kiss on Harry's lips, a deep passionate kiss that almost made Harry pass out right there. "Harry, you're finally becoming a Slytherin!"

Taking deep breaths to try and calm his heartbeat, Harry rolled his eyes, that was the last thing he wanted to hear.

Voldemort was ecstatic as he embraced Harry tightly, kissing Harry's cheek which was flushed from the recent oxygen depriving kiss, then he asked, "Baby, what did you see in James' foolhardy mind?"

Voldemort's sickly sweet voice gave Harry goose bumps, was his becoming more Slytherin really that exciting for Voldemort? "You… you seem very excited."

"That's because you're finally acting like a Slytherin." This meant that the differences between he and Harry were growing smaller.

"Oh," Harry nodded though he was not quite sure what Voldemort meant, something o flashed across his mind but it faded before he could grasp it. "Don't call me baby, I… I'm not used to something like that." To say the truth, it was a little off-putting.

"Alright my dear Harry." Voldemort accommodatingly used another term of endearment that Harry didn't dislike, "What did you see?"

How to say this, Harry grimaced a little. He had seen a lot, such as how passionately James felt about Lily, that was something that the whole school already knew; such as the various plans James had for interacting with Harry then extracting information from him and using him to pass false information back to Voldemort- that was not something he could tell Voldemort, otherwise James may not live to see tomorrow's sunrise, at latest he would be disposed of by Yule; also such as… thinking back and forth, the only thing Harry could tell Voldemort about was the conversation between Dumbledore and James just before he came into the office, the conversation between a mentor and a disciple, filled with caring and a desire to nurture from the elder and respect and obedience from the younger.

"Dumbledore suggested that James learn occlumency and gave him the "Basic Guide to Occlumency" book. The reason he gave was so that James would be able to fight for the Order of the Phoenix with a clear mind in the future." Dumbledore had not made a single mention of Harry at the time but both he and James were aware of who they were talking about, and who the occlumency was supposed to protect James' mind against. Harry had never demonstrated his legilimency but that did not mean Dumbledore would ignore the possibility, he was sure that Harry was skilled in this mind magic so he had to teach James how to occlude his mind. As always Dumbledore had made sure to cover every possibility, although he had not directly ordered James to do anything, James' every action and path went exactly according to Dumbledore's wishes.

"The old fox." Voldemort ground out between clenched teeth.

Harry, though he was the target of these actions, only felt a faint sadness, he who had always watching from the side as Dumbledore schemed against others had now become the one Dumbledore was scheming against, all the caring and nurturing in the past had become wariness and guardedness, this made him feel lost and disillusioned.

**72.**

Voldemort's mood was much improved after learning that Harry had not fallen into any of Dumbledore's snares, so he finalized the tutoring arrangements for the school year with Harry, every Tuesday and Thursday, same as last year. He also promised himself that he would attend each of Harry's Quidditch practice sessions, which would commence from the third Wednesday in September, the first Quidditch match would occur on the first Monday in October, between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

After lunch break, Harry and Voldemort both left for class. As the area outside his quarters was a public area, Voldemort only hugged Harry's shoulder as any elder relative might. He was quite content at feeling the docile compliance of the young man under his arm. In less than one year's time, Harry had given up more and more ground under his tender assault, even though Harry still felt that there were many issues between them making it impossible for them to be together, he was nevertheless and human and humans were at the mercy of their emotions, with Harry being as sentimental as he was, Voldemort had confidence in the future of his and Harry's relationship.

After the two classes, Harry parted from Snape and went to the library alone. Snape had coldly warned Harry not to fall for James' tricks before they parted, "Dumbledore is behind his actions and no matter how egotistical and stupid James is, he would not be easy to handle if he has been under Dumbledore's tutelage." Harry was grateful for his old friend's words of caution, but indicated that he himself was no slouch in such matters and will not let James take advantage of him.

Not many people were in the library as term had just started and the professors had yet to assign any headache-inducing assignments. Harry's arrival attracted the eyes of everyone present but none of them had the courage to approach and initiate a conversation. Harry was Voldemort's beloved nephew, the Prince of Slytherin, a powerful wizard, no matter how easygoing he appeared to be, his prestigious positions and incredible power were a frightening deterrent. Only the most excellent students would be worthy of standing at his side and conversing with him, this was commonly and quickly acknowledged by the students to each other.

Harry spotted James where he was sitting in a quiet corner, diligently reading the "Basic Guide to Occlumency". He had already placed a book cover over it so that it looked like a normal textbook or library book. James and Dumbledore will be meeting every week starting next week to work on his magic. Harry felt a little out of sorts and a little bitter, it crossed his mind that he may be a little jealous. But there was nothing for him to do, in this timeline he and Dumbledore were two parallel lines that would never meet.

"Good afternoon James. You look like you're studying very hard." Harry put down his book bag, sat opposite James, then smiled sweetly at him.

For moment James was stunned still as he stared at Harry. But he quickly recovered and looked down at the book in front of him to gather his thoughts, when he looked up again, he had arranged his expression into a not quite natural smile of welcome. He had originally intended to feign slight stiffness to his smile to indicated that he was not quite used to being so close with Harry, so that Harry would not be as suspicious when they got closer in the future, but it turns out that the less than natural smile was a genuine expression due to his slight self-consciousness from looking at Harry's smile. "Good afternoon Harry. We have our NEWTs next year so reading more books couldn't be a bad thing."

Harry's smile grew even sweeter and brighter, "That's true. Genius is just another word for studious and dedicated. I am sure that your results next year will be as good as your OWLs last year." James had received nine Os, just like Harry.

Harry was wearing a snowy white silk robe today, with gold thread and pearls embroidered in the shape of Calla lilies, a refreshing scent of apples wafted from the robes, and gold barrettes, also set with pearls and shaped like leaves, tightly held Harry's messy hair in this summer's most popular style, the emerald green eyes were very like Lily's in color but unlike Lily's eyes they had a look of solitude and being as peace with the world. Harry had never smiled at James before so James had never realized that a Harry devoid of coldness, feigned emotions and intrigue- the trademarks of a Slytherin- could look so delicate and beautiful as he smiled his brilliant smile. The first time Harry had smiled at him, just earlier, he had frozen, feeling as though countless flowers were in bloom around them, the second time Harry had smiled at him, his heart had started beating uncontrollably, the sound of it disquieting him, he had to clench his fists and dig his nails into his palms to keep calm and aware.

For the first time in almost six years, he found Harry's eyes to be like Lily's, he also found some that there was some truth to the views that Harry was the most beautiful person at Hogwarts.

**73.**

After exchanging some general greetings and remarks, the two got down to business. Harry unrolled a blank parchment, inked his quill and wrote down "DADA Remedial Sessions" in large letters.

"Let's first list the spells that we need to practice this year." Harry solemnly suggested.

"Then let's start from boggarts, boggarts- one session, redhats- one session, dememtors- one session, unforgiveables- three sessions, giants- three sessions, werewolves- two sessions, inferi- two sessions…" James earnestly counted the sessions and added them up, by his calculations, the DADA remedial sessions can be satisfactorily concluded by the Christmas holidays.

Exasperated, Harry called a halt to his suggestions, "James, the course you have outlined is too much, it wouldn't work."

"Why wouldn't it work? What's wrong with it? Tell me!" James' face immediately darkened, thinking that Harry was deliberately discounting his opinions.

Harry waved his hands and helplessly said, "There's too much that wouldn't work with that schedule. Your starting point is too high and you're progressing too quickly, if we followed your schedule, the students would not be able to learn anything, it would be a waste of time."

James face darkened even further and he stared fixedly at Harry, his voice chilly as he spoke, "So what is your plan Chief Instructor Harry James Potter?" He knows that he is being impulsive and that he should not show a contradictory attitude but should instead be completely supportive to Harry Potter, even if he were to arrange a schedule only useful to squibs, but his own honorable nature rejected such trickery and allowed his extreme discontent to show through.

Harry just smiled at James' obvious objections. The luminous smile was indescribably hateful in James' eyes. Without needing to think further Harry quickly began to write on the parchment, filling it within a short time.

James took the parchment Harry handed him and immediately wanted to explode after reading the first line, restraining himself from that inappropriate outburst, he forced himself to read a couple more lines, finally he couldn't hold back anymore and slammed his hands on the table as he stood, "Harry Potter, what is this supposed to be? Are you taking Hogwarts students for fools?" He couldn't believe that Harry Potter was really going to do for something so despicable.

Luckily Harry had foreseen just such an outburst and had already laid down a silencing charm, otherwise not only would the all other students stare at them avidly, but Madam Pince would kick them out for sure. Even so, James' angry stance had attracted the eyes of many of the students.

Relaxing back into the chair, Harry answered lazily, "James, I have no intention of insulting any Hogwarts student. I can guarantee that this is the most appropriate schedule for them."

"The most appropriate?" James' smile was chilly as he shook the parchment, "_Expelliarmus_- one session, _Impedimenta_- one session, _Bombarda_- one session, _Stupefy_- one session- who even needs to learn these spells? Every second year student already knows them! And look at this, dementors- four sessions- that's two whole weeks, and it says that we can add another session if necessary? Are you taking all of us for fools? You've even arranged for twelve sessions for the unforgiveables, six whole weeks!"

In truth, Harry was not quite happy with this schedule, he believes that the time allotted to each topic should be doubled! But considering that a third of the students attending are seventh years who will be graduating next summer, he had no choice but to shorten the schedule. Thinking of this, he took out his wand and waved it, feeling a tremendous pressure forcing him to sit down, James sat as apprehension grew in his heart.

"Please," Harry shrugged, "James, not everyone are prodigies like you and Sirius Black. Most Hogwarts students are ordinary people, you can't judge them by your own standards."

Seeing that Harry had no intention of changing the schedule, James turned his head away and tried to convince himself to cooperate with Harry, gain his trust, it was an spoken acquiescence to Harry's planned schedule.

**74.**

When Harry returned to the common room that evening, Lucius and Hedwig presented him with two lists of names, one from Voldemort listing the students of Slytherin and one from Dumbledore listing the students from all four houses. Harry, still not completely familiar with the Slytherin system of ranking students, passed the lists to Lucius for him to pair the students up for the practicals. Being a competent prefect, Lucius quickly and easily completed the task.

"Harry, what will you be teaching us?" Lucius was uncommonly curious.

Harry was in the process of laughing as he watched Snape's knight thrash one of Lucius' pawns, Lucius was usually quite ruthless when he played wizards chess, often thrashing Harry and Harry's chess pieces usually ended up in a sorry state. Snape was a good mate, getting revenge for Harry every time. Once Snape's knight had completely flattened Lucius' pawn, Lucius resignedly flicked the pawn away with a finger. Harry was contented as informed Lucius, "It's a secret, you'll know when the time comes!"

Compared to Lucius' ease in pairing up students, when it was Harry's and James' turn, things didn't move so quickly and their productivity was quite low. Even after twenty minutes' discussion, they were unable to agree on how to pair up the students. James insisted on pairing students outside the houses while Harry insisted on pairing within the houses.

"Pairing up outside houses would promote inter-house unity."

"Pairing up within houses would prevent incidents of conflict and grudges."

Both stood by their opinions and would not back down.

James scratched his head, messing up his bird's nest of hair even more, "I understand your concerns and they do make sense, but the benefits from pairing up outside houses would be greater than the possible harm. Gryffindors and Slytherins have always been enemies, if we could use this chance to improve on the relationship between our two houses, Headmaster Dumbledore would definitely be pleased."

Seeing that he was bringing Dumbledore into this and that he did have a point, Harry could only grimace, he was actually trying to look out for the Gryffindors with his suggestions of staying within houses for the pairs, if James was not will to accept the gesture, there was no point in Harry trying to force it on him. "Alright, we'll do it your way."

Having decided to go with James' method, Harry delegated the entire task of pairing to him, allowing him to pair Gryffindors with Slytherins. Some of the pairs were unexpectedly prudent, with pairing Remus with Snape, the hotheaded Sirius with Lucius, and Lily with Narcissa, apart from being somewhat arrogant, like all Slytherins, Narcissa was more even-tempered than most female Slytherins, perhaps all the genes for evil and mayhem had gone to her sister Bellatrix. Harry found this proposal quite pleasing.

Taking out two more pieces of parchment, Harry used a Dicta-quill copy the pairing proposal already completed then uncharitably assigned James with the task of taking the proposals to the prefects of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, so that the pairs could all be informed, after all, wasn't it the job of the assistant to take on miscellaneous tasks such as this? "I don't know the other prefects well." Was his excuse for this, even though he was quite familiar with Remus, if five years of mutual attacks count as "knowing someone".

Harry took the Slytherin pairing proposal back to the common room with him and read it out aloud to everyone, Snape's complexion immediately turned green.

As the students were discussing their partners and pairings, Snape grabbed the collar of Harry's robe and nervously questioned him, "How could you… how could… why didn't you put a stop to it?"

"After careful consideration, this was the best way. Lupin is a prefect and his partner has to be on a level with a prefect. Just because Gryffindors don't seem to care about such things on the surface doesn't mean we can disregard it, these are after all combined sessions that will be attended by all four houses, if we provide prefects with partners of lesser abilities, they will definitely feel slighted and might try to disrupt the sessions. I want everyone to be able to learn as much as possible." Harry said innocently, "If you and Black were partnered the Great Hall might end up being destroyed, right? With you and Lupin, given that you saved his life that time, he won't refuse to work with you, you two being partnered might turn out very well."

"Didn't you consider my feelings in this?" Snape's eyes had reddened and his voice had grown rough.

Harry signed then pulled Snape's hands away from his collar, "Severus, this is a class at school alright? Slytherins have two Herbology classes with Gryffindors every week, three or four time out of ten you pair up with Lupin in these classes and nothing happened then did it? It's just a DADA remedial session, you and Lupin will only be study partners trying to help each other learn, you'll be going your own ways after the sessions so what are you worried about? It's not like partnering with him in the sessions will be the last straw that breaks your control right?"

**75.**

In the next few days, Harry was kept busy making preparations for the remedial sessions. As student pairs will be from two different houses, each of their seats had to be pre-arranged, Harry had James get the assistance of the house elves, making name signs that can be attached to the back of each chair during classes so that students would be able to take their assigned seats, Harry and James also rehearsed the planned classes several times, James was able to disarm Harry every time as Harry was not working very hard to dodge the spells, under James' request, they also rehearsed using _Impedimenta_ and _Bombarda_. Living up to his reputation as the best student in Gryffindor, James' spellcasting was very solid, and after only several days practicing occlumency, Harry could already feel thread-like strands trying to bar him from invading James' thoughts, it seems that having a teacher you can respect is quite different in term of progress, from having a teacher you despise.

Very soon it was time for the first remedial session.

Students arrived at the Great Hall quite early and found two rows of chairs at the back of the hall, these were divided into four sections, on the back of each chair were the crests of one of the four houses, Slytherin's silver cobra on a green background, Gryffindor's golden lion on a red background, Ravenclaw's bronze eagle on a blue background and Hufflepuff's black badger on a yellow background, these were the seats reserved for the fourth years auditing. Three feet in front of the observations platform chairs were arranged with four to each row and name signs were attached to the back of each chair, every two chairs were placed close to each other, no more than 20 centimeters apart, with a lot of space between each pair of chairs. Students hurried to take their seats, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs got along quite well and the students conversed easily, full of anticipation for the complicated and high level magic they may be taught today. The atmosphere between the Gryffindors and Slytherins was quite different, there were no conflicts, but there were also no conversations, the student treated their partners as though they didn't exist.

At 7:30 Harry and James walked into the hall together and the buzzing of voices died down.

"Good evening, my name is Harry James Potter and I will be your instructor for the DADA Remedial Sessions. This is James Potter, my assistant." Harry made concise introductions then moved directly into the topic at hand, "Today we are going to be covering _Expelliarmus_."

There was an immediate cacophony as the students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff quickly expressed their discontent, they were all confident that they were at the level to learn higher level spells instead of practicing entry level ones. "We want to learn the unforgiveables!" "We want to go up against dementors!" "Werewolves! Giants!" The Slytherins were silent with cold, derisive smiles on their faces. They were laughing internally at the self-aggrandizing and unrealistic expectations of those from the other three houses, at the same time they were cheering their prince on, this was the way to show one's superiority, openly and in such a reasonable way that your victims can do nothing but accept the facts.

James was feeling vindicated but he had to feign concern as urged Harry to change his mind, "Harry, they don't agree with you, if you continue this way it would be hard to make anyone practice seriously. I think it would be better if we changed the session content."

Having read James' thoughts, Harry only smiled, having no intention of changing his plans, he blew once on a whistle, the loud, sharp noise cutting through the ever increasing protests and the hall was plunged into silence as the students looked at each other bemusedly.

"Mr. Mickey, Mr. Donald, please come to the front." Harry was smiling as he called for the two students.

The ones called were prefects from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively, a pair of fairly excellent students. The two were bemused but stood at the spots Harry pointed to.

Harry smiled, "I would like Mr. Mickey and Mr. Ronald to provide us with a demonstration, then all of us will practice together once, if the results are satisfactory, we will move right on to the next subject of the sessions." He waved his whistle then said to the two prefects, "I'll whistle once then Mr. Mickey will fire an _Expelliarmus_ at Mr. Ronald, at the next whistle, Mr. Donald can fire one _Expelliarmus_ at Mr. Mickey. Do you understand?"

Both boys felt confidently as they nodded easily, "We understand, Sir." It was only a disarming charm, they were sixth year students at Hogwarts and had gotten Os in their DADA OWLs!

**76.**

They turned and put their backs to each other, each took three steps forward, then swiveled back around to face each other and bowed, Mickey then held his wand out in front of him like a sword.

The corner of Harry's mouth twitched uncontrollably, Damnit, did they think this was a duel? It was ridiculous.

He blew the whistle.

"_Expelliarmus_!"

Mickey said the spell loudly, with his wand pointed right at Donald. A stream of red light hit Donald but did not disarm him, merely pushing him back a couple of steps.

James could not believe his eyes, he even doubted his ears, was the spell Mickey just used really the disarming charm? Either he had heard wrongly or perhaps his eyes were deceiving him.

Mickey was also quite disconcerted, he looked at Donald's wand then at his own, his eyes wide as saucers.

Whispers broke out all over the hall.

When Harry felt that they had been given sufficient time to react, he blew the whistle again. Donald's performance was far worse than Mickey's, his spell was way off target, going right over James' head messing up James' hair until it looked like a bird's nest that had been blown over.

Students started to snicker.

"Again." Harry was expressionless as he blew the whistle again.

Glad that Harry was kind enough not to laugh at them but angry over their own poor performance, Mickey raised his wand again, vowing to himself to do better. But the reality was counter to his intention and this time his curse only made Donald cringe a little. Donald improved somewhat, his spell going over Mickey's head this time.

But now most of the students in the hall had lost control and the hall filled with laughter. A few were not laughing, instead they reconsidered their lack of respect for the disarming charm and started considering how confident they were that they would be able to correctly execute this simple seeming spell.

Both Mickey and Donald were flushed and sweating all over, hoping to find a hole in the ground where they could hide from the shame. It was only a simple spell, why was it so difficult when it came time to use it? Once magic was channeled to the wand from their bodies, it became difficult to control, rushing right out of their wands.

James angrily rolled his eyes, these were prefects? With those skills?

Harry consolingly patted Mickey's and Donald's shoulders and asked them to return to their seats. Looking at the laughing students below the stage, Harry smiled coldly to himself, laugh while you can, he though, soon you won't be able to laugh.

"All other students, move to the empty space next to your chairs and stand six paces apart from your partners. When I blow the whistle, Gryffindors and Ravenclaws will fire the disarming charm first, when I blow the whistle again, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs will fire the disarming charm."

The students stood and arranged themselves according to Harry's instructions then bowed to each other.

Harry blew the whistle.

"_Expelliarmus!_"

More than one hundred people casting the disarming charm at once was quite a sight, the attitude was evident, now for the results…

"James, please check how many were able to disarm their partners." Harry turned to the glowering James.

It was an easy task that James didn't even have to get off the stage to completed, casting a glance around, he could easily spot the pitifully small number of wands lying on the ground. "18, 8 Gryffindor, 10 Ravenclaw." He was so ashamed to say it, his voice was tiny as the buzzing of a fly, but it was clearly stated, eighteen, not eighty.

Those who had already cast the charm hung their head in despondency, those who had not were proud and anticipatory.

Harry blew his whistle again, another round of loud spellcasting, unfortunately the results were not much better.

"21." Once again James did not have to leave the stage to count the wands, "Slytherin 15, Hufflepuff 6."

Did this indicate that pureblood education methods were slightly better? Harry wondered vaguely.

Apart from Harry, all the students fifth year and above were glowering. Sirius and Lucius had the darkest looks. They had both successfully cast the spell but were very dissatisfied with the performance of their housemates, especially Sirius, the number of Gryffindors able to successfully disarm their partners was only around half the number of Slytherins capable of the same! For someone who had always thought of his own house as the best, this was quite a blow and it made him want to harshly reprimand his unskilled housemates.

Although the auditing students were also wondering how they themselves would performing at the same exercise, not being the ones on the spot, their reactions were quite different, almost all of them were laughing so hard they were falling against each other, further exacerbating the humiliation of their upperclassmen.

"This is… infuriating." James muttered lowly, not daring to raise his eyes, afraid to see derision in Harry's eyes. Thinking back on how insistent Harry had been to teach the basic spells and how strongly he had objected, confidently insisting that Hogwarts students were up to it, but now faced with such a terrible performance, he had to admit that Harry was right in his concerns, too right.

Unexpectedly, a delicate and gentle hand came to rest on his shoulder, "James, let us demonstrate." No hint of disparagement, James automatically lifted his head and looked into a pair gentle, intriguing emerald pools, filled with concern for the students, not a hint of derision in sight.

**77.**

Harry asked the students to return to their seats and looked towards the observation area with a faint, bland smile, the fourth years immediately quieted as though struck dumb, not letting out another sound.

"Alright, after these practices, I believe you now understand why I want to start with the disarming charm. James and I will now demonstrate the disarming charm together, then we will instruct you on this."

Harry nodded at James, then indicated for him to start. James quickly took three steps, then swiveled around and cast without a pause, "_Expelliarmus_!" A stream of red light hit Harry and his wand flew into the air.

"_Accio wand_." Harry waved his hand and the wand flew back into his hand, causing a stir in the watching students. "Very good James." His smile was self-conscious and faint, after all this was the first time he had praised James in front of so many people, the slightly stiff and unnatural behavior caused a wave of empathy in his Gryffindor fellow instructor.

Harry Potter… was quite cute when he was being shy and self-conscious, James thought in a befuddled way. His shy look was just as attractive as Evans'.

Harry smacked his wand against his palm, much like a muggle teacher would smack a teaching ruler. "First, I want to correct one of your misconceptions. We are practicing DADA, not dueling, so there is no need to bow to each other as I don't want you all to get into the habit of bowing before you cast spells." Some of the fourth years were brave or foolhardy enough to break out into laughter at this. "Second, when casting, your spell must be spoken smoothly and be clearly enunciated. Before you all learn silent casting, the clearer and smoother you say the spell, the better your rate of success. Third, your movements must be quick. When facing an enemy, your speed can determine whether you survive the encounter. Your opponents will not behave like your practice partners, standing there waiting for your spell, so you must be quick, quick enough that he will not be able to react in time. Four, when casting, your intent must be clear in your mind, you must clearly picture what effect you want your spell to have, the stronger your intent, the more accurate you magic will be." On hearing this the students were contemplative. "Please think about this for a moment and raise your hands if you have any questions, Mr. James Potter and I will come to you to answer your questions. We will resume practice in five minutes."

After a while James checked his watch, "Time is up, everyone please stand as you were before."

The students' speed had obviously improved from the last time, they were all moving quicker. Harry was quite pleased, no matter the overall results, the performance of the students were worthy of praise.

After two whistles, "A total of 52 disarmed." James frowned as he reported. Many students lowered their heads in shame.

Harry on the other hand, was very happy, at least he appeared very happy. "13 more than last time, that's very good, everyone is improving quickly. Our magic improves the more we practice, so everyone needs to continue making an effort.

By the end of the session at 9:30, the number of students able to successfully disarm their partners had reached 237. For those 97 still unable to successfully perform the spell, Harry assigned homework, to successfully cast the disarming charm before the next class. "Magic must be learned and strengthened step by step and every step should be taken solidly and be built upon previous efforts. I can't stop advancing the course because some of you are unable to learn the material so each of you must catch up on your own initiative, instead of just hoping for a reprieve." Harry clearly stated the cold, hard truth, his dazzling face appearing lofty and unreachable. James sneaked several puzzled looks at him, not able to understand his contradictory behavior.

"Harry." James resolved to speak with Harry before he returned to his quarters to sleep, Harry turned to him in puzzlement, "What is it?" A tiny yawn, Harry looked adorably befuddled in his fatigue.

James had to make an effort to yank his thoughts back to recall what he was going to say, "Um… I'm sorry! When you first set the schedule for the sessions I objected so adamantly and argued with you, but the facts proved that you were right. I'm so very sorry." Half sincere and half pretend, he apologized to Harry for his actions.

Harry smiled, "Did we argue? I don't recall." Not waiting for James to react, he hurried away, a slight smirk lifting the corner of his mouth, he really was becoming more and more Slytherin.

James stared blankly in the direction Harry had disappeared, not knowing what to feel. Perhaps he was spending too much time with Harry Potter, his impression of him was being turned upside down, he could be cold and unreachable, but also elegant and sophisticated, he could be warm and forgiving but also unemotional and ruthless, sometimes he was hazy and adorable but other times he exuded a since of having experience great trials, what had made Harry Potter into who he was now? A muggle orphanage would not have been able to create someone like him. James suddenly had an urge to dig deeper into Harry Potter, to try to understand him, but it only lasted for several seconds.

**78.**

After returning to the Gryffindor common room, Sirius exploded, "What the hell were you all doing, only eight of you were able to disarm someone on the first practice? Slytherin had more than twice that number! You people are upperclassmen, what have you been doing the last couple of years?"

Recalling their inadequate performance at the start of this first remedial session, the Gryffindors flushed with shame.

Remus put his arm around Sirius and tried to console him, "Sirius, although we didn't start very well, we all improved a lot by the end. You shouldn't be too harsh on everyone."

Sirius glared, "Remus, you have to consider that there are still 20 of us who haven't mastered the disarming charm, we're only slightly better than Hufflepuff with 30, Slytherin only has 18! We're going to be laughed at and mocked by those slimy Slytherins!"

"Sirius," James spread his hands in a calming gesture, "I am the assistant instructor of the remedial sessions, let me talk about today's session, alright?"

Sirius scowled then nodded reluctantly, "Of course, it's your right."

James cleared his throat lightly, drawing the attention of the students, seeing the despondency in some of them, he lost the urge to berate them. "Everyone did quite well today, that is my honest opinion. Even though Gryffindor is slightly behind Slytherin as a whole, this is only the beginning of the year and the start of the remedial sessions, we have plenty of time to catch up to them, so everyone should have some confidence. But this session did bring to light the fact that we have many problems, many. We have all learned spells and potions, but did we really master what we learned? Can we really accurately cast those spells? Can we make those potions at any time? When facing an enemy, will we be able to accurately cast the spells we will need? Before today I would not have hesitated to answer "Yes" to all of thpse question, but now, do all of you think you can do these things?"

Silence, an uncomfortable silence.

"Fortunately, this situation is not only occurring in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and to a certain extent even Slytherin, are facing the same difficulties, we are not the worst off. So I hope that all of you, beginning from today, will pay more attention, not only to the DADA remedial sessions, but to all your classes, we must make sure that what we learn is not limited to the superficial aspects but to the practical applications." He recalled Harry's incredible performance over the summer holidays, and added, "As for your Slytherin partners, you must learn to discover your own strengths from observing and practicing with them, then you must develop these strengths, for any faults you discover in yourself, you must rectify them quickly, also discover your partners' strengths and learn from them, discover your partners' weaknesses and make sure to not make the same mistakes."

"Learn from Slytherins?" "Slytherin's strengths?" Many Gryffindors immediately raised their brows and shook their heads. They're Slytherins, evil, dark wizards, they had nothing that was worth learning.

"Think of Harry Potter, his calm, his ability to think under pressure, and his familiarity with and research into magic. These are things that we do not have but are celebrated by the professors." James thought back on Harry's shimmering, lake green eyes, as beautiful as the clearest emeralds. His gaze swept back and he looked into the similarly alluring green eyes of Lily, the exquisite girl was looking steadily back at him, her partly puzzled and partly approving expression softened her usually slightly stern visage, James' heart started beating uncontrollably.

Evans… how could he have thought that Harry Potter was as adorable as Evans? Lily was the best!

"We can no longer be so narrow in our views, the Slytherins are walking ahead of us and we must catch up to them, then leave them behind, let everyone know that Gryffindor is the best house of Hogwarts!"

James' call received the agreement of all the students, he was very happy, Lily's obviously softening stance towards him pushed him to greater heights of elation.

"Oh, also, you can start putting your names down for the Quidditch team tomorrow, tryouts will be held on Friday. We will have a match against Slytherin on the first Monday in October, it will be the opening match of the Quidditch season. Gryffindor has beaten them twice in a row already in these matches, we must fight for another victory, therefore as the Quidditch Captain, I hereby call for the best players, the very best!"

**79.**

On Tuesday, the Quidditch team called for new members and Slytherin conducted their tryouts on Wednesday, confirming the three positions left vacant after the previous players graduated.

On Friday was the second remedial session, first Harry tested the 79 students on their homework, all the students had made a good effort and could now successfully cast the disarming charm. They then went on to cover _Impedimenta_l.

The third Wednesday after term started was the day agreed upon by Harry and Voldemort to hold the extra session for the Slytherins. The lower years had been sent to their dorm rooms quite early, purebloods had strict rules and they were kept far away from things that they shouldn't know about.

The common room was well lit by thick candles, making it bright as day and the chairs had been rearranged, the two sofas closest to the fireplace belonged to Voldemort and Harry, the normally fanned out armchairs had been arranged into four parallel rows with a big space between the sofas and the armchairs facing them.

At 7:25 Snape walked into the common room carried a small steel cage in his hand, the cage contained seven or eight furry spiders. He had gone with Harry to catch some spiders because Harry had said that he needed some creatures for demonstration purposes, he had not thought that Harry would want to go deep into the Forbidden Forest, saying that there was something suitable within. On reaching the spot Harry designated, Snape's calm façade, built up over many years, was almost completely destroyed by the swarms of huge spiders with eight eyes each, acromatulas, he had the urge to throw a wave of flames at them, he wouldn't have cared if he had burned down the Forbidden Forest in order to destroy them. After catching the spiders, Harry shrank them, Snape wanted to yell that he should have just caught some smaller spiders instead! But Harry gave a few to him, telling him that the acromatulas were worth a lot of money and also made great potions ingredients, but that they were very rare. The worst thing was, on their way back, they ran into Voldemort who had come looking for them, even though Snape had not done anything nor did he have any control over what happened, Voldemort's icy stare had still made him feel guilty as sin. Luckily he was not the main recipient of Voldemort's rage.

At 7:30 Harry walked in with Voldemort, they had just had a violent argument, ending with Harry on the losing side. Voldemort's worried and heartbroken eyes, along with his gentle yet domineering insistence had defeated Harry after only several minutes. Harry repeatedly informed Voldemort that he was not weak, he could protect himself, but only having found his love again after searching for such a long time, Voldemort was not willing to risk any harm befalling Harry, "I can't take the risk of losing you, and it is my wish that you do not have to face any kind of danger." This declaration cum threat, combined with the threat of making the Slytherin locket into a two-way portkey, was enough to make Harry capitulate, Harry could only despondently swear not to do such dangerous things in the future.

Finally Nagini slithered in, then immediately approached the spiders, staring at them with maliciously curious eyes, [_They look very delicious Harry._] She hissed.

[_Um, I wouldn't know, I've never eaten one._] Harry honestly answered. He knew that snakes ate insects but he didn't know that it included spiders.

[_You can try them Nagini, there are plenty more in the Forbidden Forest, you could feast on them._] Voldemort's smile was encouraging. [_Just leave one or two alive._]

Harry glared at him hatefully.

Angrily, Harry decided not to look at that hateful git any longer, instead he transfigured a blackboard, several sticks of chalks, a duster and a long table, placing the cage of spiders on the table.

Classes in the magical world were usually only verbal and the Slytherins had never seen a blackboard before. They examined the items curiously and quietly speculated as to what new magic this was.

Voldemort, having lived in the muggle world for ten year, did of course recognize the blackboard. He was just wondering why Harry had brought these muggle items into the magical world.

Harry took out his wand, which was acting as his muggle teaching ruler again, and pointed it at the blackboard, "This black thing is called a blackboard," Picking up a stick of chalk, "This is chalk," Then the duster, "And this is a duster." Then to summarize, "These are implements used in muggle classrooms when teaching. I'm telling you this now because we will be to using these things often in our futures training sessions." Harry laughed, "Our learning topic for this year is—" Harry picked up the chalk wrote the word on the blackboard in large, block letters, "Muggles."

The room was in an uproar.

**80.**

Voldemort's eyes narrowed abruptly and his brows were drawn into a deep, forbidding frown. He did not understand Harry's meaning but he believed that Harry would not deliberately go against his principles publicly like this, so he sat still and waited for further clarification.

With Voldemort not objecting, Snape supporting Harry, and Lucius obeying Voldemort, all the other students could only put a lid on their discontent and derision and continue to listen to the lecture.

Harry wrote another word on the board "Electricity". "Muggles created electricity, it is a vital part of their lives. And electricity can also be used in magic."

After his statement, he opened the cage and took out a spider, "_Finite Incantatem_." The spider returned to its original, huge form and many of the students started to scream, everyone pushing their chairs back to clear at least another meter of space.

"_Electrica Stupefy!_" Harry pointed his wand at the spider and a stream of yellow lightning flew towards, the spider's body contracted then fell to the ground with a thud, threads of green smoke rising from it.

"Voldy, would you like to come and check the effects?" Harry raised his face and smiled at Voldemort.

Voldemort walked to the spider then leaned down to get a closer look, immediately his eyes became more somber and he crouched closer, his wand waving over the spider, the tip flashing with different colors, his face grew graver and graver, showing astonishment, disbelief, joy and anticipation in turns. After ten minutes, he stood and turned to ask Harry, "How many volts?"

"10." Harry was still smiling.

This answer was far from what Voldemort expected, "10 volts?" 10 volts was enough to do this much damage? The amount of electricity safe for the human body should be 36 volts!

"That's right, 10 volts, when it is generated with magic, the effects are quite surprising." Harry shrugged to show that this was out of his control.

Voldemort looked thoughtfully at Harry, then the corners of his mouth curled up, he turned to the students and announced his findings in a louder voice, "This type of magical attack can put someone in a comatose state, as well as heavily damage various organs, even with all the currently available potions and healing magic, this type of damage could not be healed, one can only wait for the body to recover on its own. The damage sustained would depend on the amount of magical power injected into the spell and as for the period of time required for healing, at minimum it would take two weeks, at maximum—" He turned to ask Harry, "Could it be fatal?" If the voltage reached 200 volts, it could become fatal.

Harry shook his head, "The maximum output is 36 volts, any higher and it becomes unsustainable magically. That is to say, at the highest rate of damage, the person hit might take seven weeks for recovery."

There were collective exclamations of amazement from the students who were stunned at these explanations. A spell that would take a minimum of two weeks to recover from, that was a relatively high degree of damage. Respect and curiosity started to appear in the eyes of some of the students.

Harry shrunk the comatose spider, put it back in the cage, then took out a second one and restored it to normal size and wakefulness. "_Electrica Carbonis._"

A stream of green violet lightning shot out of the tip of Harry's wand, hitting two of the spider's furry legs. Almost instantaneously, part of the legs vaporized into ash and the rest of the legs fell to the ground, the spider curled up its remaining legs and started twitching.

Harry picked up one of the charred legs, "Voldy, would you like to see the effects?'

Voldemort reached to take the leg and Harry warned, "It's very crispy, don't crush it." Voldemort carefully picked up the leg between his thumb and forefinger, bringing it closer to examine it, "The areas around the magical strike are completely destroyed, there is not possibility of repair."

"That's correct, there is no possibility of repair, even using healing magic or potions."

Harry put that spider away, then took out a third one and restored it. "_Electrica Mortem._"

This time the flash of lightning was white and the light blasted the spider more than ten meters away, "Dead." Voldemort crossed his legs, he was very intrigued.

Harry took out the fourth spider, it stood there motionlessly, possibly terrified over what had been done to its companions. "_Dominatus Zero._"

The spider did not move or change in any way, the students looked at Harry in puzzlement, thinking that he might have gotten the spell wrong.

"_Diffindo._"

Harry cut the spider into pieces and it was only after this that the students were able to see that the spider's blood was completely frozen, with no hope for recovery.

The fifth spider was taken out, "_Effervesco._"

From the once again, cut up body of this spider, the students could see that there were no more fluids left, all the fluids had evaporated into multi-colored gases the moment the spell hit the spider's body.

"From now, we will be learning the muggles' theories and putting them into practice, any questions? No? Good."

**81.**

All the students had left, leaving Voldemort alone in the room with Harry.

Voldemort picked up one of the spiders that had suffered a horrid death and thoroughly examined it, "Very interesting Harry, very, very, interesting. It's hard to believe that combining magic with muggle things could result in such a transformation."

"Yes, that's why muggles aren't completely useless."

Voldemort cocked his head, then laughed softly, "It's alright baby, you have achieved your goal. I had been lured into this new direction of magical research the moment you cast the first spell, even just for this I would spare the muggles and even facilitate their scientific research."

Harry sighed with relief, "I just don't want the muggles' culture and knowledge to be destroyed."

"You have proved its usefulness, so it will continue to exist."

Harry waited and waited, but Voldemort only concentrated on discussing the physics and chemistry behind these spells, not asking about the spells and potions themselves, not asking anything else. Harry couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going to ask me for the spells and the recipes of the potions?"

Voldemort raised a brow, "Why should I ask? When it's time for me to know, you will tell me."

"… Yes, one day I'll tell you everything."

Saturday was time for Slytherin's Quidditch practice. Riding his beloved Firebolt under the soft autumn sunlight, Harry was happy as a clam. He had not played Quidditch for such a long time, so long that he was filled with anticipation after thinking back on the extreme length of the Quidditch-less period of time. The war began at the end of his sixth year, then it was years and years of the dragging war, filled with spilled blood and devastating betrayal, one by one his compatriots had been lost in battle, and one by one those that he had played with and laughed with turned their wands on each other. Voldemort's seemingly omnipotent powers and incendiary words and magnetism were enough to cause anyone's spine to shudder. Even Harry, who had gone through trials by fire and blood, could not see through the man's endless plans and schemes. "If someone is not tempted, it is because the temptation itself was insufficient." By the time Harry realized this fact, everything was already over and the magical world had succumbed to Voldemort. Nine year, in nine year of war Harry had not played one game of Quidditch, not even ridden a broom once, in war any form of transport other than apparition was too slow. After nine years, Harry came to the year 1977, as an orphan living in the muggle world, he had no extra money to buy a broom, even the shoddiest one, and he even had to hide the fact that he was an excellent flyer. After five years, he could finally fly openly and play Quidditch without holding back or worrying about anything, this was all due to Voldemort.

He pulled the broom to a stop in mid-air, he was a seeker and thus did not need to cooperate and strategize with other members of the team. Peck, the captain, only had one request of Harry, and that was to catch the golden snitch, so while the others were diligently practicing various plays and strategies, he could fly anywhere he wished in any way he wished.

Everyone was extra careful and dedicated during today's practice, this was because their ultimate boss was watching from outside the pitch.

Voldemort smiled at Harry and waved him over. He had come to the practice for Harry and Harry's display of superior flying skills and excellent control of his broom completely captivated him, he had no doubts that Harry would be able to beat James Potter in tomorrow's match."

Looking towards the other players, Harry could see that they were still practicing diligently, so he pointed his firebolt downwards and flew to Voldemort's side, the tips of his feet touching the verdant lawn. "What is it?"

Voldemort took out a block of Honeydukes' new flavor of chocolate and broke off a small piece, feeding it to Harry, "It's nothing, you just looked a little bored so I wanted to chat with you."

"Who says I was bored?" Harry made an adamant denial, "I'm just conserving my strength, preparing to fight James to the death!"

Voldemort smiled indulgently, "Yes, yes, because you weren't daydreaming, instead you were thinking up strategies to use against that idiotic Gryffindor."

Harry raised his head proudly, "That's right!"

Voldemort laughed joyfully, bright crimson eyes filled with a gentle sweetness. No matter the time, no matter the place, as long as it was with Harry, he felt endlessly blessed. Giving the slender shoulders a brief hug and lightly kissing the pale forehead, he said, "Promise me, never take risks like going into the Forbidden Forest again, otherwise you will not like my punishment!"

Harry swallowed nervously, then smiled sweetly, "Of course not." Um, it would be hard to beat James without taking some risks.

October 5th, first Monday of the month, the yearly "Friendship Match" between the Quidditch teams of two randomly selected houses. This year Gryffindor and Slytherin had been selected. After Harry had come to this time, he had felt many differences, this Opening Quidditch match was one of them. Although the results do not count towards the Quidditch Cup or the House Cup, it was still Quidditch and it could get bloody and messy, filled with antagonism, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin, in the past fifteen years, they had met at this match seven times, each time they met, the number of player injuries were high.

This is why on the evening of October 4th, Voldemort had repeatedly told Harry, "Win or lose, it does not matter to me, what is important is that you stay safe. After all, Slytherin hasn't beaten Gryffindor in the last five years."

Harry thought differently, that was the reason he wanted to join the Quidditch team, to break Gryffindor's dominance of the Quidditch Cup and take some of the wind out of their sails, to let James know that Slytherins can also fly well and play Quidditch well. According to his observations of the games played in the past five years, James was able to win every time because he was willing to take risks. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. Comparatively, Slytherins were more prone to acting according to plans and playing more conservatively, putting them at a disadvantage when playing with James. Harry had been a Slytherin for five years, he was beginning to truly feel like he was a Slytherin, but deep down, his love of risk-taking and his habit of running headlong into an adventure or plan had never faded. He had nodded repeatedly in feigned acceptance of Voldemort's words, but he was still determined to play as he always had.

From the time they exited their respective portraits that morning, the Slytherins and the Gryffindors had been confrontational, bloodless and weapon-free wars broke out time after time in place after place. "When a Slytherin and a Gryffindor run into each other, even if they were only walking past each other, I can clearly see the sparks flying between them." That was how one of the male upperclassmen had put it. From the time Harry had started teaching them about muggle physics and chemistry, muggle terms had started appearing more and more often in their speech, some of the more advanced students, like Lucius and Snape, had increased their knowledge of muggles so much that they were at the level of third year Muggle Studies students.

The skies were clear and the autumn breeze refreshing, it was great weather for flying.

By 11 o'clock the Quidditch stands were completely full with not an empty seat in sight, Voldemort was sitting in the best viewing area of the Slytherin section, Dumbledore had also come to watch the match and he was currently chatting with Professor McGonagall.

In the changing rooms, Harry put on his Slytherin Quidditch uniform, dark green edged in silver, not the red and gold of his memory. The past kept rising to the surface, Wood, Jordan, Fred and George, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Will he ever see them again? Those distant but never forgotten people?

"Harry, it's time." McNair stood silently behind Harry for five minutes before reminding him of the time.

"… Oh, right, let's go."

Madam Hooch was still the flying instructor and, more importantly, the referee of all the "difficult" match, including the yearly opening matches.

"Everyone on your brooms." Madam Hooch announced.

Fifteen brooms floated towards the sky, Madam Hooch blew her silver whistle.

Keepers, Chasers, Beaters, each quickly moved to their positions and plays, bludgers and quaffles zoomed around and the crowds were cheering both sides on, shouting encouragements, yelling, cheering and bellowing in anger.

None of this had anything to do with Harry, the only thing that had his attention was the winged little golden ball. He reflexively narrowed his eyes, searching for signs of its location. After three minutes he gave up for a time, and glanced disinterestedly at the chaotic playing over the pitch. Both teams had scored once, right now the Slytherin Chasers were closing in on the Gryffindor Beater Sirius, but Sirius veered left then right, shaking them off, at the same time swinging his broom into the Slytherin Chaser Mackley, almost knocking him off his broom.

"Very violent." Harry couldn't help stating.

"That's how Quidditch is supposed to be, passionate and eye-catching." Also bored, James had flown over to Harry on his Nimbus 1981, resplendent in his red and gold uniform.

Harry raised his brow at that statement, "The rate of injury is too high with that sort of playing style."

A/N: For the electricity spells, I just looked at online English to Latin dictionaries to find equivalent words, below are the words and the corresponding English term I used to translate, I hope they're not too far off :P.

_Electrica_- Electricity

_Carbonis_- Coal or charcoal

_Mortem_- Death

_Dominatus Zero_- Absolute Zero

_Effervesco_- To boil up, evaporate


	10. Chapters 83 to 91

A/N: Warning, explicit lemon in this section, chapters 86-88

Also, Eschient (thanks for your reviews) reminded me that I had not credited the original author of this fic, nor provided the necessary link so I have amended the introduction to reflect this. Thanks.

**83.**

As they were speaking, the Slytherin beater Goyle had neatly coordinated with McNair to steer a bludger at the Gryffindor keeper Flynn, knocking him out and off his broom. Madam Hooch deftly caught him then blew on the silver whistle to signal a break.

"He needs medical attention!" Madam Hooch yelled. She descended to the ground then released Flynn into the hands of several Gryffindor students so that they could take him to the infirmary. She rose into the air again then pointed at the Slytherins, "Penalty, one shot."

James called in the reserve keeper.

Harry sat quietly on his broom, "Twelve minutes after opening, the first casualty."

"Last year there were three Gryffindors and four Slytherins injured, the year before, four Gryffindors and four Slytherins." James was matter of fact, "It's all for the sake of winning."

After only fifteen seconds, Sirius sent a bludger at the Slytherin Beater Oslo, breaking his right arm. Slytherin had to send in a reserve.

"1:1." James voice was uncommonly upbeat.

Harry glared at him, but before he could respond a flash of gold streaked over James' head and moved upwards at a slant.

The snitch!

Both Harry and James aimed their brooms up and flew closely after the snitch. The snitch fluttered its wings and flew between their grasping hands like a fish slicing through water, flying towards chaos. The match was very confrontational and the players were concentrated into a small area, penalties occurring in countless ways and the players were barely able to stay balanced on their brooms. The entry of the snitch and the two seekers into this chaos broke the dangerous balance, their speeds were extreme and they created more chaos wherever they went, there were also intermittent aerial acrobatics. Both Harry and James were in a bit of trouble as their brooms were flying too fast while there were too many people around them, several times they almost swerved into bludgers when trying to avoid crashing into other players, each escape was both death-defying and terrifying.

Gryffindor 50, Slytherin 50, Gryffindor 80, Slytherin 70, Gryffindor 100, Slytherin 120…

The scores rose in turn and injured players were replaced one after the other, after one and half hours play, the injuries were at Slytherin 4 and Gryffindor 5.

Harry had no time to consider these statistic, all he could see was the golden snitch. The Firebolt was faster than the Nimbus 1981 and he was close behind the snitch with James most of a broom length behind him.

There are no gentlemen in Quidditch. James continually attacked the back of the Firebolt, hitting it with the front of his Nimbus 1981, harder each time, the right hand not holding the broom also reached out to pull on the rear of the Firebolt, trying to drag it back and slow Harry down.

More skilled, Harry was not slowed by James' attacks, he held tightly to the Firebolt and swerved up and down, left and right, time and again shaking off James' hand, his ever-changing position evading many of James' attempt to hit him with his Nimbus 1981.

James clenched his teeth, "Harry, you're a coward, you don't even have the guts to face me head on, you're just relying on your faster broom!" He was yelling very loudly, otherwise Harry would not be able to hear what he was saying.

Harry was laughing, "James, brooms are a part of Quidditch, don't be so childish." He answered without turning around or dividing his attention, his eyes staring unblinkingly at the little golden ball in front of him.

"Face me like a man, Harry, I'm more skilled than you!" James continued to taunt him, his nerves wound tight as he waited for the slightest relaxation or mistake from Harry.

"James, try something else, I won't fall for such inept words." Harry was still laughing, not slowing for a moment as he got closer and closer to the snitch.

James was frantic, taunts, pulling on his broom, nothing was working, Harry was not falling for it, what was he going to do now?

Suddenly the golden snitch pulled to a stop then abruptly turned downwards.

Harry was unable to stop right way and flew a little past the snitch. James was overjoyed and took the opportunity to push his broom downwards, reaching out for the snitch.

Recognizing that he was about to lose the snitch, Harry decided to make a dangerous play. He turned the broom downwards, then lifted both legs to use the Firebolt as a launching point, then he pushed off with his legs and jumped—

"Merlin!" "Oh, no!"

In the sea of screams, Voldemort's expression was feral as he immediately stood and pulled his wand, preparing to rescue Harry.

Gravity combining with his speed, Harry felt lightheaded as though he might pass out, but he still kept his eyes open, reaching out his arm, he was getting closer and closer… he caught it!

**84.**

Harry tightened his fingers, using all his strength to cage the wildly fluttering snitch, the Firebolt, spelled by Voldemort, flew downwards at unprecedented speed, Harry grabbed on to it and the Firebolt rose into the air, clipping James' Nimbus 1981. Stunned still by Harry's reckless move, James had forgotten that he was also flying towards the ground and made no move to evade the Firebolt, the tail of the broom clipped James heavily on his left hand which was holding onto the broom, unbalanced, James fell from mid-air.

Harry's first reaction on climbing onto the Firebolt was to raise his right hand high to show the snitch to everyone in the stands and on the pitch. The Slytherin students were jubilant, frantically waving their silver and green scarves, jumping up and down in glee. Snape and Lucius also wanted to cheer but the murderous expression on Voldemort's face made them change their minds, we can celebrate when we get back to the common room, so as not to add to Voldemort's ire, they thought

Harry was also laughing happily as he flew over to the Slytherin section of the stands, enjoying the cheers of the students, until his gaze reached the thunderous expression on Voldemort's face, his heart stuttered, his smile froze on his face, and there was only one thought in his mind:

He was dead!

"Damn you Harry Potter, you wanker! You did that on purpose!" Even half a field away and over the cheering of the Slytherin students, Sirius' bellow was clearly audible over the entire pitch, Harry shuddered in surprised fright then turned to look at Sirius, whose eyes were red with rage, approaching rapidly on his broom, looking as though he wanted to kill Harry.

McNair and Burbank flew over to restrain Sirius on each side, McNair snarked, "Hey mate, you snooze you lose, we Slytherins aren't as churlish when we lose like you Gryffindors."

Sirius was so angry veins were popping up all over his face, he stared at Harry in hatred, wanting to fly up and punch him, unfortunately both McNair and Burbank were huge and he couldn't break free, "We Gryffindors have never attacked your seekers after catching the snitch!"

Attack? Harry was completely confused, he had attacked James? When? He instinctually looked towards the ground to see James being carted away on a stretcher, the other Gryffindor players carrying him away from the pitch.

One of the Slytherin players flew to Harry's side and whispered the details to him of what happened, "I did not attack him, it was an accident." Harry would never allow them to accuse him of such un-sportsman-like behavior and immediately countered.

McNair tone was sickly sweet as he spoke, "Harry never lies, if he says it was an accident, then it was an accident. It was James' own fault freezing there like a sitting dolt, he'd even forgotten to duck. He wasn't struck dumb by all the excitement was he?" After he finished he and Burbank started laughing heartily.

Sirius was glaring so hard he eyes almost fell out of their sockets, wanting to turn into his grim form and tear these two wankers apart, of course that included the perpetrator Harry Potter, unfortunately he could not break out of the two behemoths' grips so he could only start swearing.

At that time, one of the Gryffindor players approached, huffing and with an enraged expression on his face, there was also a thread of arrogant scorn, "Sirius, James said that he fell because he wasn't paying attention for a second, not because of Harry Potter, he wants us Gryffindors to be calm and levelheaded over this incident." When he said Harry's name, his scornful glance at Harry enraged all the Slytherin players present.

The remaining four Slytherin players all flew towards them, surrounding the two Gryffindor players, all breaking out into angry words, "What's that look for you git? Your own captain fell by himself and you want to blame us?"

The other Gryffindor just sneered, not answering.

Harry thought for a moment then stopped the Slytherins, he turned to Sirius and his companion and said, "It was an accident James falling off his broom, it was not due to anything deliberate on my part. Of course, the incident did occur because of me so I will go visit him in a little while." He flicked a glance at the Slytherins, indicating that they should let go, this was a time for celebration and there was no reason to do anything to lessen the joy of the whole of Slytherin house, "Let's go everyone, our housemates are waiting to celebrate."

At hearing the word "celebrate" smiles finally appeared on the faces of the six Slytherin players, they had been waiting for this celebration for five long years, they weren't going to let a couple of grumpy or mannerless Gryffindors ruin their mood. If the two houses truly came into conflict, it would be the Gryffindors who would suffer. Finally McNair and Burbank let go and followed Harry. Sirius and his housemate stared at Harry's departing figure hatefully, stilled filled with rage.

**85.**

Passing through the portrait and entering the common room, Harry found the room transformed, green and silver ribbons hanging everywhere, a banner of an arrogantly hissing silver cobra stretching the breadth of the room. All the students were wearing their best robes, all gentlemanly and ladylike, it was both opulent and extravagant. In comparison, Harry preferred Gryffindors' more carefree and casual revelry, Slytherin style was just too sophisticated.

The arrival of the Quidditch team caused an uproar, the students parting to clear a path for them, eager to shake their hands, each and everyone overwhelmed and speechless. Harry could understand what they were feeling, having spent so many years under the yoke of Gryffindor, now they have finally beaten the lions, even though there will not be any actual awards, the victory itself was a wonderful prize.

The other players all went to their dorms to shower and change, but Harry didn't dare. At the end of the corridor, Voldemort stood in his black silk formal robes, smiling as he looked at Harry. No matter which way Harry looked, he stilled felt that those deep crimson eyes were filled with murderous intent. Harry really wanted to turn and run, maybe then he would still have a chance. But Voldemort's terrifying stare pinned him in place, those eyes, they were the same as Nagini's eyes as they stared at a fat little mouse.

Voldemort stretched out a forefinger, pale, long, abnormally suited to playing the piano, and made a come-hither motion in Harry's direction.

Harry swallowed with difficulty, right now he wanted a rock to fly out of nowhere and knock him out, or for him to pass out due to his body being too weak to handle the previous intense exercise, if all else fails, could he just pretend to pass out? A shred of rationality stopped this idea in its tracks, if he really did pass out, things would turn even worse, in his rage, Voldemort would definitely punish him terribly by prohibiting him from playing Quidditch or maybe even ridding a broom. Thinking of this, he ingratiatingly ran up to Voldemort and turned his most innocent, purest and most adorable puppy eyed look on Voldemort an offered and overly passionate greeting, "Voldy, you came, be sure to have lots of fun!"

Voldemort stared at Harry expressionlessly until Harry looked away timidly, his tone was obviously sarcastic as he dragged out his words, "I want to have lots of fun, but someone had to go and upset me, so what should I do?"

Harry immediately scowled, feigning anger, "Who would dare to upset Voldy? They must be tired of living! I'll go and take care of them for you!" He prepared to escape as soon as he finished speaking.

Before he had even taken half a step, Voldemort had already grabbed onto the collar of his robe, his heated breath caressing Harry's ear as he spoke, "But I haven't told you the name of that person, how do you know who you need to "take care" of?"

Harry could feel how close Voldemort was as his musky scent filled his nose, Harry's legs buckled and his back felt boneless, he almost slumped back into Voldemort's embrace. But he swallowed again and viciously pinched his own thigh, setting his jaw, he feigned righteousness, "Of course, someone that stupid, I'd be able to recognize with one glance."

"Oh?" Voldemort's smile was both chilling and worrisome, "But I believe it would be better if I told you that person's name, what do you think?"

"I think, I think…" Harry's was breaking out in a cold sweat over that smile, his eyes darting around frantically, showing his desperate plea for rescue.

Target 1: Nagini. A very sensitive and intelligent snake, Nagini was immediately able to interpret Harry's rescue signal, she quickly lowered her head, opened her jaws, swallowed ten mice at once, then shot towards the other end of the common room like an arrow, settling in to enjoy her snack.

Damnit, she may be bulky but she was certainly quick! Harry muttered hatefully as he searched for another target.

Target 2: Snape, Snape was Harry's best and most steadfast friend, he was also able to immediately recognize Harry's discomfort and anxiety, so he looked left, and he looked right, finally he picked up his goblet and raised it to Harry, then he pretended to drink, he looked very dedicated to his drinking.

Drinking, was he getting befuddled or just pretending! Harry cursed internally, that was some skill, being able to drink out of an empty goblet! Traitorous git! Helpless, he searched for another target.

Target 3: Lucius. Lucius was nice, no shooting away at lightning speed, no pretending to be doing something, he was actually taking to Narcissa, looking at Narcissa, looking at the ceiling, at the floor, at each corner of the common room except in Harry's direction.

Now Harry was angry, well, Lucius, this is how you repay me, don't think I'll tell you anything useful in the future!

"Harry, Harry?"

"What! Can't you see I'm in a bad mood right now!" Harry turned and yelled, but then his gaze collided with Voldemort's, Voldemort who was standing there with his arms crossed, smiling brilliantly, showing two rows of perfect white teeth, glittering radiantly.

They reminded Harry of a shark, a great white shark.

"I'm so sorry to disturb you. But you've given me a bad mood too, so what are we to do now?"

**86. Begin lemon**

Voldemort locked his arms around Harry's waist and dragged him back to his own quarters. He threw Harry heavily onto the bed and the soft mattress gently wrapped around Harry's body, then slowly flattened to lift him back up. The older wizard stood at the end of the bed with a cold smile, that smile giving Harry the chills.

"So tell me, what kind of punishment do you think you deserve? I'll count to three, if you don't come up with a satisfactory punishment by then, I will punish you as I see fit- believe me, you will not like my methods."

What? Harry was stunned still. A punishment that Voldemort would find "satisfactory", anything that left Voldemort satisfied was likely to leave Harry anything but.

"One." Voldemort started counting without giving Harry anymore time to think.

"Voldy!" Harry was suddenly struck by inspiration and jumped off the bed, going over to Voldemort and standing docilely in front of him, innocently blinking his big, emerald eyes, looking very much like Bambi. "I know I was wrong, I do, and I swear I will never do it again!" He resolutely lifted his right hand, "I will definitely, definitely, DEFINITELY, never do anything dangerous again!" Fluttering his eye lashes like the wings of a butterfly, he peeked up at Voldemort's expression through his lashes, "Don't be angry, please, Voldy?" He leaned softly into Voldemort's chest.

For a moment, Voldemort forgot to breathe and his arms lifted of their own accord to wrap around Harry, then he put them down again and quickly said, "Harry, do you know something?"

"What is it Voldy?" Harry lifted his head as he asked, his face filled with hope.

"After you have gone against your word so many times, your assurances have lost any meaning to me, I will not easily believe them again." Voldemort was solemn as he answered.

"Oh." Harry's face fell.

"Two."

"Voldy!" Harry stretched out his arms and wrapped them tightly around Voldemort's neck, his beautiful eyes filled with warmth and affection, "Voldy, I'm a Slytherin, I wanted our house to win, you do too right? I still remember the smug and contemptuous expression on James Potter's face as he kissed the Quidditch Cup in June, it was so infuriating! I swore then that I would beat James Potter and take the Gryffindors down a few notches, so, when I saw today that James Potter might get the snitch first, there was nothing else I could do! If I hadn't done what I did, it wouldn't be the Slytherins celebrating today and we will have lost to the Gryffindors for six straight years. Voldy, I couldn't let something like that happen! Slytherins are better than Gryffindors, the only reason we keep losing is because we lack that drive to take risks at the key moments, I was only trying to correct the only mistake that I found in our team and be an example to our other players. And," He smiled sweetly, his cheeks flushed and rosy, his face both shy and seductively demure, "You were there, that was why I was able to release the broom and take the jump. You would never let me be in danger right?" There was really no need to ask this, in today's dangerous situation, if it wasn't for Voldemort he would have joined James Potter in the infirmary.

The last obviously rhetorical question was quite effective on Voldemort, who had to work to keep his expression stern. It took him a moment, but then he cleared his throat and finally restrained the urge to puff up in pride. He can't fall for this, he can't fall for his devious little minx's plan to make him so smug that he forgets to reprimand him.

"I must admit Harry, your words are very convincing."

Harry broke into a smile.

"But that does not change how I feel, you can't understand what I was feeling when I saw you jumping off that broom in mid-air- I couldn't bear it if I lost you, I would rather that I died in your stead. So I must punish you, that is the only way to curb your recklessness, at least to a certain extent."

Hearing this, Harry glared at Voldemort in anger, almost wanting to take a bite out of him to vent his rage, "You… you…"

"Three." Voldemort ruthlessly spat out the last number.

"Fine, whatever you want!" Harry put down his arms, pushed Voldemort away, then drew his wand and pointed it as himself, "I'll punish myself! _Diffin-_" The wand was ripped out of his hand and tossed into the corner before he had finished the cutting curse. Harry lifted his chin and stared arrogantly at the man, "What? Didn't you want me to punish myself? I already decided on the punishment, why did you take my wand?"

Voldemort could only grind his teeth, this little rascal, was Harry trying to kill him with rage? His shoulders dropping in defeat he surrendered, but feeling cheated he took Harry in his arms and covered those smug, red lips with his own

**87.**

Totally unprepared, Harry stilled for a moment, by the time he thought to react, Voldemort's tongue had reached into this mouth. He and Voldemort had kissed many times and Harry was most affected by Voldmort's deep kisses which felt truly wonderful, as though he was floating up into the sky, but he always forgot to breathe when he was kissed like that and he always ended up feeling like he was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen. It was strange that he had never felt like this when he used to kiss Ginny. Was it because he wasn't the one doing the kissing when he was with Voldemort? "Oh…ah…" Harry squirmed as he let out tiny, sensuous moans, his eyes growing misted and luminous, like moonlight shining through lace curtains. Please, he couldn't remember how to breathe anymore! Almost as if he had heard Harry's plea, Voldemort release his lips, smirking at Harry like the cat that ate the cream. Harry glared back huffily, but was too busy catching his breath to express his dissatisfaction. Before he had fully recovered his breathing, Voldemort had pressed him back into the bed, vanishing his clothes in an instant, without the barrier of clothing between them, Harry could feel every inch of the fiery erection between Voldemort's legs.

"No… oh…" He wanted to protest, but Voldemort took his earlobe into his mouth and the rush of tingling pleasure took all the strength out of Harry's body and sultry moans, filled with sensual arousal, emerged from his mouth instead, these sounds were more like demands for more than a rejection.

"Baby, you sound so good." Voldemort mumbled incoherently as he licked and sucked repeatedly at the pale, delicate earlobe, every movement causing Harry's body to shudder, his moans almost turning into sobs.

"Vol..dy…" Harry cried out brokenly, long, slim and pale legs lifting to wrap around Voldemort's strong waist, rubbing against him helplessly. "Don't… don't stop there, don't…" He wanted Voldemort to keep touching him, lower, a little bit lower.

Voldemort obediently moved lower as he kissed Harry's smooth white throat, then the tempting dip in his shoulder, every touch pushing Harry's excitement higher until he began to scream with pleasure. Voldemort was very pleased, his little Harry was unexpectedly sensitive and his reactions were very soothing to his ego. When Voldemort's lips covered one of the red nubs on that smooth, pale chest, Harry finally broke into sobbing breaths, glistening tears flowing out of his eyes from the overwhelming pleasure and dripping onto the pristine, white sheets. Slender fingers clenched around fistfuls of sheets to try and restrain himself from letting out any more embarrassing moans, but the nibbling of the man's teeth on that sensitive nub as his fingers rolled and pinch its twin broke all of Harry's restraint and he sobbed as he cried out Voldemort's name, his cries sweet as candy and delicate as a kitten's, revealing his heart's deepest desires and urging the man further and further in his touches.

Encouraged, Voldemort moved ever lower, pass the trim waist, the smooth, succulent legs, the well-formed, cute little toes, leaving marks of his passion on every centimeter, every inch. Harry cried harder as he twisted and writhed like a seductive white serpent. He couldn't speak to utter his pleas and Voldemort wickedly pretended not to understand what he wanted until Harry was ready to burst into flames. To try and relieve the overwhelming pressure in his body, Harry bit his lips and reached for his own aching erection but his hand was caught in Voldemort's before he reached his target, "Oh no baby, that honor is mine."

Harry screamed in frustration, "But you don't want to do it!" Why couldn't he do it himself?

"Oh?" Voldemort feigned shock as he raised his brow, "It's not that I don't want to, it's just that my Harry hasn't said that he wants it, and so I don't dare…" Harry's eyes were red, his cheeks were flushed, and his ivory pale skin was also flushed with a rosy glow. He almost wanted to hit this wanker in front of him, hard, to vent his anger at the man's wicked teasing, but his body has been turned into mush by the man's passionate caresses, even his glare at the man was unconsciously seductive and enticing. Knowing that he would not be able to win this word game against his tormenting seducer, Harry turned his head and shyly averted his gaze, in a low, sensuous voice he begged, "Voldy, give me… let me… please let me… come." Please, don't tease him anymore! Triumphant, Voldemort gave in to Harry's pleas and took Harry's rigid, leaking cock into his mouth, Harry gasped and the strength left his body, leaving him to slump back into the bed as Voldemort's skilled tongue worked every inch of Harry's cock. His mind flashed white with indescribable ecstasy and everything became a blank as he floated in a sea of clouds, only able to feel the man's agile tongue as it slid over his sensitive cock, sending him to paradise.

**88.**

After his climax, Harry slumped bonelessly onto the bed as he panted, black hair soaked with sweat, eyes still lined with sensuality and receding passion. Voldemort pulled his legs apart and pushed his forefinger between the pert globes of Harry's ass, reaching for the tiny opening to prepare him for what was to come. Harry wanted to stop him as he had still not completely accepted this relationship with Voldemort, and there were still too many unresolved issues between them, plus he wasn't yet prepared for such in elevation in the physical intimacy between them. But his body was completely boneless, he had not experienced passion in such as long time that Voldemort's teasing sensuality had sapped all his strength and he was helpless to resist. Perhaps it would be better to let things progress as they will, somehow everything will be resolved, Harry lifted his sharp little chin and his back arched into an elegant bow. And then, he looked into a pair of huge amber eyes. Hedwig was standing beside Harry's head, cocking her head as she looked at her master, not understanding why the man that always gave her tasty treats had twined his body around her master.

Annoyed and embarrassed, Harry kicked at Voldemort's shoulder, his voice tremulous, "Let go, someone sent me a letter." After he spoke he pulled the sheets over to cover his body with unsteady hands. Voldemort sighed internally, another missed opportunity! Not able to consummate their relationship riding on Harry's current guilt and momentary weakness, it might be a long time until Voldemort would have another chance like this. Damned owl! Voldemort longed to pluck the infernal bird then cook her, in turn he cursed his own slow actions, if only he hadn't taken so much time to savor Harry's body. Next time he would make sure the window was closed and the foreplay was not so extended! "Shall we have a bath? You still haven't bathed after the match." Although Voldemort actually found the faint aroma of sweat enticing.

At Harry's tacit approval, Voldemort took Harry into his arms and carried him into the bathroom. All this spread out in front of him, but no further opportunity to partake of the feast, this experience only increased Voldemort overall frustration. "Whose letter is it? And what does that person want?" Harry's expression as he read the letter was myriad, glad and anticipatory, but also a little forlorn, seeing all this Voldemort was feeling a little jealous as he asked his question.

Harry dressed with his back to Voldemort as Voldemort refused to leave the room, he also huffily refused to reply. After putting on his clothes and dealing with the passion marks all over his body, Harry got on his Firebolt and glared at Voldemort, "I'm going to met with the woman of my dreams!"

Even knowing that Harry was speaking in jest, Voldemort couldn't help grabbing the parchment to read it carefully. The letter was from Lily Evans, hoping to meet with Harry to speak about James Potter. A girl and a boy meeting to discuss another boy? Voldemort believes that he needs to have a talk with Harry.

When Harry went to the astronomy tower at the appointed time, Lily was already there waiting for him, her deep red hair moving gently in the light breeze and her green eyes filled with the warmth of summer. Harry thought that his mother was the most beautiful girl in the world.

"I'm sorry to disturb you during your celebrations." Lily apologized.

Gryffindor celebrations usually lasted all night and she thought that the Slytherin celebrations would be at least as long given that it was a victory they had been waiting more than five years for. It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the celebrations should be just getting festive and high-spirited.

Harry was actually quite thankful for Lily's letter, if it wasn't for the letter, he might still be in bed with Voldemort, tangled together in a passionate embrace, he was still not sure where his relationship with Voldemort was going but an intimate relationship at this time would only confuse his thoughts and disrupt his life. "No, your invitation came at a good time actually."

Lily lifted her head in query but Harry would not elaborate, quickly turning the topic back to her invitation, "You wanted to ask me something about James? Um, I didn't mean to knock him off his broom, I was still in shock myself at the time and I was only concentrating on showing the snitch to the referee to confirm that Slytherin had won, I didn't even see him so…" He scratched his head in annoyance, that sounded like an excuse. Did Voldemort do something to deliberately… he cut off that off and quickly added, "James and I have been getting along quite alright this last month, I wouldn't call us friends but things aren't as tense between us as they were anymore, the match had ended, I would never do something so underhanded to him like that." He peeked worriedly at Lily after he'd finished speaking, not wanting his mother to see his as a git who would attack someone even after the match had ended.

Lily nodded her head in agreement, "I know you didn't mean it. You are a kind and decent person, I do not believe you would do something as despicable as attacking your opponent after a match had ended."

**89.**

Thoroughly mystified as to the reason Lily had asked to speak with him if it wasn't about that, Harry asked, "Then why did you…"

Lily lowered her head as she started wringing her hands, showing the deep conflict within her mind. Asking Harry to meet with her was done at the spur of the moment and now she was finding it hard to put her thoughts into words. Not that she was worried about Harry saying something derogatory, but she was just wondering whether Harry's promise made that time in the library was still in force. She had always held a certain affection for Harry but did Harry still feel the same for her? After all, he was no longer that nameless and even despised, disgrace of Slytherin on the Hogwarts Express, in this past year he had well and truly become the Prince of Slytherin and was surrounded by so many pretty and suitable girls, willing to be his friend or lover, would he still be willing to help out a girl from Gryffindor?

Lily's hesitation was easily recognizable to Harry and he found that there was an invisible barrier between the two of them, it was the last thing he wanted but it was inevitable given the facts and circumstances. In his heart he was still steadfast in his unspoken vows to his mother, he would protect her with his life. "Lily, look at me." To dispel Lily's doubts, he addressed her with a familiarity he had never used before, Lily froze in surprise then slowly raised her head, her beautiful eyes looking steadily into his own, "Do you remember the words I spoke to you last November, "if there is anything I can do for you in the future, please tell me, I will do my best to help you if I can."- I stand by my words, now and in the future."

Lily's doubts and fears faded away at these words, yes, no matter what Harry had done, or what he now possesses, he was still that halfblood wizard who chatted with her about everything under the sun and his caring for her remains unchanged. She was finally able to gather her courage to speak with Harry, she doesn't know why but she just feels that this boy is the only person that she could ask for advice from in this matter. "I heard that James Potter has told our housemates that his fall from his broom was due to his own carelessness and not due to your actions, were you aware of this? And is this true?"

Harry easily admitted the truth, "I am aware of this and it is true."

"So it is true…?" Lily was deeply confused as she muttered, "How could this be, he has always been so arrogant… has he truly changed? Is this just an act?"

Harry hesitated for a moment before he spoke, "I don't know if he has really changed, but at least in this past month, he and I have gotten along well enough." He turned his head guiltily, not daring to look into Lily's eyes. After all, he hadn't needed legilimency to tell him that in James' mind, all his behavior had been planned with a specific, ulterior motive, this was not something he wanted to tell Lily as if he had been in James' position, he probably would have done the same. This was war and war is always filled with deception and intrigue, even he himself had made use of James' plans for his own purposes, if not actively and enthusiastically, then at least diligently. No matter if one was a Gryffindor or a Slytherin, everyone fights for their own beliefs, of course, Harry does not consider his actions righteous but rather necessary in light of the facts of the situation, and one could not ever say that it was wrong to fight for what you believe. Granted, apart from all this, he also had other, personal, motivations for his words to Lily. Harry still can't figure out how that hateful person he had seen in the pensieve, his father, had won the heart of his mother in seventh year, his mother who was almost Lady Justice personified, she obviously detested him so Harry had wondered whether his father had utilized some high pressure tactics at the time to get his way. After coming to this time, not only had Harry not changed his mind in this matter, in fact, he grew more pessimistic over the whole thing, five years of going to the same school as James Potter had shown him how truly despicable James was and he had a hard time imagining Lily falling for him. The only consolation Harry had was that James was truly in love with Lily. He wanted to help James because the man was, after all, his father and he didn't want his own birth to be erased, but his relationship with Lily had never really gotten close enough to do anything about this, Lily seeking him out today gave him an opportunity to put in some good words for James.

"In truth, James is not a bad person, he's kind and smart, a bit prejudiced and arrogant, but really, most of the pureblood wizards in the magical world are like that. Lucius is much worse than James."

"But Malfoy is a Slytherin." Lily blurted out.

"And James Potter is a pureblood Gryffindor." Harry cocked his head, "After the summer holidays, James has changed a lot, I can feel it."

-0-

After Harry returned to his room, Voldemort immediately took him into his arms, "Baby, we have to talk."

Harry rolled his eyes, "That is nothing remotely like what you're thinking between Lily and I, so there is no need for that talk."

"Then why did she seek you out?" Voldemort asked doubtfully.

"To talk about James Potter."

Voldemort was even more dubious as he gave Harry several more suspicious looks, "Don't get too close to those Gryffindors, no matter if it is Lily Evans or James Potter."

"I know, I won't."

**90.**

Madam Pomfrey smiled at Lily as she walked into the infirmary, "Miss Evans, here to visit Mr. James Potter?"

Lily smiled in reply, "Yes Madam Pomfrey. May I go see him now?"

After a moment of thought, Madam Pomfrey said, "Actually, his injuries are not too serious and he should be fine after a few days, you may visit him if you wish. However," She paused, "He's asleep, do you still want to see him?"

Thinking that she had nothing else pending today, Lily nodded, "I can sit with him until he wakes."

Watching as Lily approached the door to James' room, Madam Pomfrey hesitantly called after Lily, "Miss Evans…" She huffed in annoyance at not knowing how to put her thoughts into words, then tried to explain anyway, "Even though I did not go to see the match and I am unaware of how Mr. James Potter received his injuries, I do have some understanding of Mr. Harry Potter. He is a kind and honest child and would never maliciously attack anyone." Because of today's match, she had had to separate all her Gryffindor and Slytherin patients, and James Potter had asked for a private room. Luckily she had plenty of space available.

Lily was gratified by Madam Pomfrey's high opinion of Harry, "I believe in Mr. Harry Potter and I was at the match, Madam Pomfrey. I understand that Mr. Harry Potter did not knock Mr. James Potter off his broom on purpose, someone who was willing to rescue ten thousand wizards without any reward would never be so narrow-minded and nasty as to deliberately injure an opponent."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Madam Pomfrey's frown smoothed away, comforted at the thought that this young lady had not attributed the blame to Harry Potter, this was probably the reason why she and Mr. Potter were so close. "It's just that, as you may be aware, in the few hours since Mr. James Potter has been admitted to the infirmary, every Gryffinfor student who has visited him has been outraged and cursing Mr. Harry Potter, I am greatly disturbed by this. It is fortunate that you are so rational Miss Evans. I'd like to ask you to talk to Mr. James Potter about this, I'm sure he would be happy to hear your words, he is such an intelligent child and I'm sure he'll come to understand."

After giving Madam Pomfrey a positive reply, Lily pushed open the door to James' room and walked to his bedside. James was deeply asleep, his handsome face childlike and peaceful in repose.

Lily put the candy she had brought as a get well present in the bedside cabinet which was already covered in other assorted sweets and get well cards, piled into a small mountain. She silently transfigured an armchair then sat down to wait silently. As a sixth year they were already learning silent casting, it's just that war is still such a distant concept to the students that they are naively unaware of what an advantage this skill could be, they only try to lower their voices when they cast, feeling overjoyed that they could so easily cheat in their lessons, not willing to invest any effort into really mastering true, silent casting. It was only Lily and several other students with more insight into the future who were willing to put in the effort to truly learn silent casting, but they were hampered by their less than ideal foundation in magic and spellcasting.

As she was waiting, many thought rose involuntarily in Lily's mind. During this term, James Potter had changed greatly from before, he was still passionately in love with Lily, but the way he expressed his love had fundamentally changed. Each morning he owled her a lily in bloom, so fresh that there were still drops of dew on the petals of the beautiful flower, he also included a card filled with tender, loving quotes and poetry. She didn't know where he found these words, but they were definitely from muggle literature, she recognized one of Shakespeare's sonnets. He no longer aggravated her by trying to appear in every place she would be at, instead he patiently and judiciously chose different times to be at her side, to cheer her up with clever and humorous words and brings smiles to her face. His change was especially apparent during the DADA remedial sessions, he would patiently and thoroughly teach her personally, greatly assisting in improving her skills while also making her aware of how strong he was in his magic. Other very important things to Lily were that he was no longer entertaining himself and showing his power by humiliating other students and that he was no longer singling Slytherin's out for abuse, not only was his relationship with Harry getting better and better, he was also defending Harry to his Gryffindor housemates and commending Harry for his magical strength. He still thought Gryffindors were the best of the best, but he also recognized that the cunning and ability to act after careful planning and strategizing of Slytherin students could supplement the hotheaded act-first-think-later mentality of Gryffindor students, accordingly he had repeatedly advised his housemates to learn from Slytherins. In only one month's time, her impression of James had changed drastically.

**91.**

Lily felt that James had become more mature and was turning into her ideal kind of boy, as well as becoming more likeable.

That's right, "more" likeable.

Before Harry's transformation, Sirius and James had been the primary targets of girls' crushes. Sirius' good looks, elegance, class and natural flair had made him a very fitting "Prince of Gryffindor"; James, though not as handsome as Sirius, still had classical good looks and a distinguished air, also he was very tall and dashing, any place he was at seemed especially bright and sunny. He was also very gifted academically and his skills at Quidditch were unparalleled. Unquestionably, he was a very likeable person and before she had been proclaimed James Potter's goddess, Lily had also thought the same way, at that time she, like many of the other girls in love with James, had dreamed that one day, he would come up to her and tell her he loved her. She never thought that once James had come to love her, his many despicable actions would destroy her positive image of him. Every time he saw her, he would rake his hands repeatedly through his hair, messing up his already messy bird's nest. He would always try to express his love for her, no matter the time or place, and most of the time, such expressions only served to annoy her. The thing that Lily detested the most, was his unthinking arrogance and meanness, he always liked to demonstrate his feelings and his "strength" by tormenting the Slytherins and Snape. She didn't know when or where Snape had offended him but their encounters always turned into fights and confrontations, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter would always attack Snape and Harry. And whenever she appeared in front of those six, the situation would become worse. Each time it was James who initiated the conflict, perhaps he thought that such encounters would demonstrate his superior strength, and truthfully, his endless repertoire of painful and humiliating spells were mostly effective in tormenting Snape, but Lily found nothing commendable in this. She does not like to see people bullying others, and James often actively attacked others, knowing that Dumbledore favored him and would let him get away with it, plus it was usually four against two! His only reason for his actions was that it was Slytherins and he disliked them!

Lily had increasingly felt that being loved by such a person was a sort of insult and the fact that she was still attracted to James became more and more intolerable to her, whenever James was not trying to please her, he was unbearable, that was an indisputable fact.

So in the last few years, she had been in a quandary, she liked James, but hated his bullying and childish nature. She had prayed more than once that James would grow up and change his less attractive ways, that way he would make a wonderful boyfriend. But her prayers had not been answered and James acted as he always has. In truth, she had almost given up when Harry appeared. Harry was the image of her ideal Prince Charming, handsome, elegant, forward-thinking, strong, humble, kind and selfless, even during fifth year, on the Hogwarts Express, when Harry was still wearing those ugly glasses and secondhand robes and looking gauche, he was kind and understanding like James had never or could never be. Even though she had only wanted to be his friend, his very existence highlighted James' faults. She wanted so badly to give up on James, her ideal boyfriend did not need to be as wonderful as Harry, but he at least should not be as unbearablly mean as James.

What completely surprised her was that James Potter became a different person in sixth year, his bad habits completely gone as though they had never existed. Now apart from the fact that he was not as strong as Harry, he was almost perfect, just like the Prince Charming of Lily's imagination. Lily could not understand this and it alarmed her. She didn't know if the change in James was real or not, what if he was only acting to get her approval and affection? What if he was planning something detrimental to Harry? She could not imagine what would happen if she accepted James' love and gave him her own precious heart and feelings, only to find that this was all an act on James' part, what would she do then? So she kept cautioning herself, not to trust, not to believe, after all, someone's nature could not change so easily, so suddenly could it? But how could she control her love for James? One month was not enough for her to completely trust James, but it was enough for her to come to love him. When she had seen James get hurt today, she didn't want to doubt him anymore and she had begun to trust him, meeting with Harry and getting his opinion had only been the final confirmation. She knew that Harry would never hurt her and would tell her the truth. Harry's words firmed her resolve and so she came, to her beloved's side.


	11. Chapters 92 to 100

A/N: So, after a little rest over the weekend where I recharged by reading a lot of fics, I am eagerly getting back into this story. Let's see how many posts I can make in the rest of this week. :P

**92.**

James was not asleep for long, although the match was very vigorous and a little tiring, the fall at the end was quite a shock to his system despite not causing too much physical harm, so he woke after less than one hour of sleep. The first thing he saw after opening his eyes was the refined and elegant beauty sitting in the chair, staring into space.

He was both shocked and exhilarated at the sight and all the blood in his body seemed to be heating up. In the month since the start of term, he could feel that Lily's feelings for him had softened more and more and he was ecstatic that his change of behavior and methods of romantic pursuit had had such a wonderful effect. But he had never dared to hope that Lily would visit him when he was injured, after all, the distance between he and Lily had not truly lessened in any way so her appearance was a very pleasant surprise. James did not speak to call Lily's attention back from wherever it had drifted to, he was willing to wait, just being so close to Lily was a serendipitous experience, waiting was nothing compared to that.

Lily had a head of deep red hair, slightly curly, that rested softly over her smooth, round shoulders, her emerald green eyes were large and always clear and they always seemed to burn and glisten with a hidden flame of determination, just like her unyielding nature. Her cheeks were silky and rosy like a flower in bloom, enticing and adorable. Her lips red and slightly upturned, making her appear to always be smiling and giving her an air of approachability and vibrancy. She was shapely despite her petite figure and even the wide-cut robes could not hide her seductive form. Lily was different from the other girls, other girls of thirteen or fourteen were already beginning to do their best to groom and dress themselves to attract the attention of the boys, but Lily didn't like to enhance her appearance, at most she would put on some lipstick, but those expressive eyes were better than any make up or enhancement, dazzling countless wizards, James was just the most persistent of the lot. No one could compare to such radiance, James reassured himself time and again, no one else's eyes could ever even compare to Lily's, no one.

He was suddenly hit with a wave of anxiety and restlessness. Because it just occurred to him to ask whether Lily's visit was truly to see how he was. Thinking of this, his eye twitched and his happiness disappeared as he recalled the beginning of the year and the deep and meaningful glances between Lily and Harry Potter, if it wasn't for Voldemort's forceful interference the two may have already become the first Gryffindor/Slytherin couple. He had no doubts that Harry Potter was often in Lily's thoughts and as proud and confident as he was, he could not deny Harry's excellence from all he had seen over the past month. Harry's extraordinary excellence in every area and respect had been a severe blow to James' own self-esteem. Even though Harry was no longer associating with Lily, who could guarantee that Lily would not continue to pine after Harry in secret? It's also possible that Lily had only come to convince him that Harry Potter's actions at the match had not been a deliberate attack, of course he already believed that, Harry Potter's only thought at the time was to show off the snitch, he was not interested in James or anything else.

He continued to look at the girl who was deep in thought as a delicate blush stained her cheeks, making her all the more gorgeous. Who was she thinking of now? Was it him or Harry Potter? Merlin, please give him a sign?

Lily gathered her drifting thoughts and was surprised to see that James had awakened and was watching her intently. The passionate yet uncertain gaze made her feel like melting and his devotion and love surrounded her, making her heart beat thunderously, as though it was an impish little rabbit, jumping around in her chest. She blushed harder, a deep shyness staining her cheeks deeper than the color of dusk.

James was struck dumb at the sight, forgetting to breathe. Lily seemed to be blushing because of him and her look of helplessness made her appear even more alluring. His heart beat even faster at this sight, what did Lily's expression mean? Could he hope for more?

**93.**

The conversation with Lily was unexpectedly easy, she made no mention of Harry Potter and was only intent on expressing her concern for James, wishing that he would recover soon, it was also filled with excitement for their match with Hufflepuff coming up in November. Just before she left, she even shyly said to him, "I'll come see you again tomorrow."

She was coming again tomorrow!

James was so exhilarated he couldn't sleep all night, his head filled with images of his beautiful Lily. The next day he was still in high spirits, not at all affected by his lack of sleep the night before, facing the indignant anger of his friends, he tried his hardest to again reassure them, Sirius' obstinacy had negated all his previous efforts. Under his persistent words, Sirius was finally convinced of the futility of opposing Harry Potter, and thereby the Slytherins as a whole, at this time, they still needed to rely on him for those DADA remedial sessions after all. While he was instructing these sessions, Harry always appeared to be a patient and tolerant teacher, as long as it was during these sessions, no matter how inept the students were, he was willing to wait for them to perfect their skills over and over again, many Gryffindors had benefitted significantly from this, even Peter had gradually improved and was able to learn the specified materials during the sessions rather than having to repeatedly practice after the sessions. If the two houses were to destroy their truce now, Harry Potter's patience might disappear.

Lily's arrival was a big shock to Sirius and the others and their looks at James were filled with both envy and jealousy. When had James gotten his claws into the beauty of Gryffindor? Yesterday, they were still stuck in the stage where James was willing while Lily wanted nothing to do with him, he was certainly quick to take advantage of a girl's compassion!

Lily did not stay long for this second visit either, James was a patient and a patient should be allowed to rest, so after watching James eat her homemade blueberry pie, she happily bid him farewell. On her way out of the infirmary, she almost ran into Harry.

"Li… Evans, good afternoon." Harry smiled in greeting.

"Harry… Potter, good afternoon. You came to visit James too?" Lily was a little awkward as she said James' name, James had insisted that she call him by his first name as she had left yesterday.

"Yes, we are sort of friends and no matter the circumstances, he was injured because of me, it's only right that I come to visit him."

After conversing briefly, Harry walked into the infirmary, checked the location of James with Madam Pomfrey, then pushed open the door and walked into James' room.

James was still consumed by feelings of happiness from Lily's visit when he looked up and into a pair of indescribable eyes. If Lily's eyes were like a clear lake, soft yet determined, Harry's eyes were like the ocean, appearing coldly calm yet filled with a gentle tenderness. No matter how captivating a lake was, it could not compare to the waters of an ocean. Harry had the most beautiful pair of eyes in the world, able to drown anyone in their depths so that they could not pull themselves away.

James stared silently as Harry sat in the armchair then took out a beautifully wrapped cake box, "From Honeydukes, with lots of strawberries."

Over the last month, James and Harry had been in close contact many times and James felt that he was now able to resist the pull of Harry's alluring presence and just calmly and objectively admire Harry's incredible beauty. But for some reason, seeing Harry today reminded him of Harry's reckless jump, as though he had no care for his own life. Harry looked so timid, elegant and quiet, but he had determination and the will to act equal to or better than any Gryffindor, the moment he jumped, those quiet emerald eyes burned with a raging flame. At the time, James had felt intimidated, Harry's presence overwhelmed him and robbed him of his courage to go head to head with him. How could such a pretty and quiet person, with such a delicate frame, house such an explosive and huge amount of power? At the time he almost felt like he was facing a raging lion and not a weak, devious snake. At the time he only had one thought, that he had lost, utterly and completely.

Harry was such a contradictory package. Obviously a snake, yet so like a lion. With a pair of sparkling eyes and a mesmerizing face that even Lily couldn't compare to. Golden robes enhanced his extravagance, a refreshing scent of bergamot and lavender softening the garishness of the gold, making him appear even sweeter.

James was feeling oddly out of sorts over the fact that Harry's attire was obviously in accordance with Voldemort's preferences.

**94.**

"James, I hope you recover soon." Harry was apologetic as he said, "I'm truly sorry that I did not notice that I had knocked you off your broom as I flew past, causing your fall, please accept my apologies."

James waved his hands, "No no no, it was because I wasn't paying attention. When the Firebolt flew up, I was so close to you, if I had been paying attention, I could have got out of the way in time and this wouldn't have happened."

To show that there were no hard feelings, he grabbed the chocolate frogs that Remus had brought him and pushed them at Harry, warmly inviting Harry to eat them, "Try them, they're a new kind, they're bitter in the beginning but then they get sweeter as you chew them."

Harry thanked James, then tore open a box and bit the head off a frog, taking the time to savor the flavor. At first taste the frog was faintly bitter, but after a moment, a faint sweetness appeared through the bitterness and the more he chewed the thicker the sweetness got as it spread over his tongue and throughout his mouth, the sweetness got more intense as he swallowed.

"It tastes like life."

"Life?" James' mouth twitch a few times at that, his eyes dubious and derisive as he glanced at harry. It was just a chocolate frog, how did he link that with something as complex as life? He was obviously only trying to appear deep and thoughtful.

Seeing James' unfriendly look, Harry couldn't help but smile and his smile was like a spring breeze, or like the blooming of countless flowers, "In life, one only ever understands the value of sweetness after they have truly experienced life's bitterness. The more bitterness one has experienced, the more one is able to savor the sweetness, that is to say, the more trials and difficulties one has experienced, the sweeter victory tastes. If one has lived a life free of hardships and trials, it is harder to succeed or achieve greatness."

Thinking that Harry was mocking him, James started to get angry. He had only won a Quidditch game, he didn't have to talk like he had already won the Quidditch Cup. Just wait until the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch game actually occurred in June, then he would soundly beat Harry and thrash the whole Slytherin team! He started to glare angrily at Harry but found that Harry had no intention of mocking or preaching at him, those crystal clear eyes were covered in a faint misty sheen, luminous and filled with a mesmerizing light, he was obviously lost in his own thoughts and thinking of someone. James was suddenly filled with a different kind of anger, he hated it when someone didn't pay attention during a conversation, but instead drifted off into his own thoughts. "Hey, what are you thinking about? Your girlfriend?" The bitter jealousy in his heart made him feel uncomfortable, and his words were correspondingly antagonistic.

Harry stilled in shock then stammered, "Girl-girlfriend? No-no, I wasn't thinking…" His tone was unconvincing as he avoided James' overly bright eyes, afraid that the boy might see something he did not want James to see. Before he makes his decision, he did not want anyone to form any sort of opinion on his relationship with Voldemort. As an orphan and without the help of his Hogwarts professors, that man had been battling ever since he left the school, how much hardship had he experienced and how much effort had he expended to have built the expansive empire he has today? The higher that person's achievements, the more bitterness and hardships he had suffered to achieve it, Harry couldn't even imagine what Voldemort had gone through, but he felt uncomfortable and self-conscious when he thought about telling Voldemort what he had been through with the Dursleys. Yes, it would be hard to tell him, compared to how Voldemort had to drift as a solitary spirit in the forests of Albania for thirteen years, the loneliness, isolation, resentment, pain, anxiety and hopeless waiting, Harry's own experiences were barely significant. Thinking back on Voldemort finally being able to return to London with Pettigrew's assistance when Harry was thirteen, and only getting his body back when Harry was fourteen, Harry's heart felt like it had been weighed down and it ached. Why did every painful thing occur to Voldemort? Was Voldemort's perseverance in upholding his own ideals somehow wrong in itself? Harry bit his lip heavily as his hands clenched over the corner of his robes, no, although Voldemort's actions were not entirely just and right, he could not let him make the same mistakes, he could not watch as Voldemort lost most of his power and could only exist as a spirit drifting around in a forest, even if it was the him of the future that would cause Voldemort's pain, he would prevent it, no matter what he had to do, no matter how many people he had to kill, he would do anything to prevent that happening!

**95.**

"Then you're thinking of a boyfriend?" James' eyes darkened as he probed deeper.

Harry could only laugh noncommittally at those strangely accurate words, "No, it's nothing. I do not intend to be involved with anyone romantically before graduation, education is important, very important." Really, why was James so intuitive in these matters when Harry himself was so oblivious, as demonstrated by the fact that he had not realized that Ron and Hermione had been involved for several years, he had also not known about Snape's painful crush until Lucius had directly informed him.

James' tone grew higher as he mocked, "Oh? I thought that your expression would only appear on someone in love!" Harry's discomfort and deliberate obfuscating convinced James that Harry was passionately in love and the one he was in love with was a male wizard. Who was it? The only ones in Slytherin house worthy of Harry's affections were Snape and Lucius; the only one in Gryffindor Harry associated with was James himself; and Harry had no interaction with students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff- so it came down to Snape and Lucius? That wasn't right either, Lucius was still betrothed to Narcissa and Snape had always behaved like a friend with Harry, and Snape extremely solitary and caustic nature could probably only be suitable and bearable for someone kind and tolerant like Remus. So who else could it be?... Voldemort? He immediately scoffed at that ridiculous idea, Voldemort was Harry's uncle after all. Even in the magical world, such a ludicrous, incestuous relationship could not exist. So who was it?

"There's really no one!" Harry was flustered as he finally blurted out, "I haven't asked about your suddenly wonderful relationship with Evans, so why are you questioning me about my private life?"

Hearing that James swallowed with difficulty, that's right, why was he so concerned over whether Harry was having a relationship with a man and who that man was, why did he have to know? It wasn't like he had some relationship with Harry, so what right did he have to question him? Hurriedly changing the topic, he said, "Um, about what you said about that chocolate frog, it felt very deep, have you experience a lot?"

Harry also felt his words were too hasty and was happy with James' change in topic, following along, he said, "I'm an orphan, and I'm scrawny and short, I'm also a halfblood mix of muggle and wizard, I didn't know how to control magic until Hogwarts and I had always done abnormal things that muggles couldn't understand, so… I was always picked on and bullied. After a while, you come up with some thoughts and theories about life." He scratched his head self-consciously, "It's more a matter of self-comfort, telling myself that tomorrow it will get better, hope will come, and that today's suffering is just a necessary prelude to tomorrow's achievements and successes."

"Muggles hate wizards?" James asked in surprise, that thought had never occurred to him before.

"Well, how to put this." Harry again scratched his head in annoyance, James found that this habit of Harry's was just like his own and was hit with a sudden flash of happiness at this thought. "People… they always feel fear for what they don't understand, especially if that something is powerful and could pose a threat to their lives, their natural instinct is to oppose it. Therefore, a child who can't control his magic can easily be isolated and bullied by muggles, and when a magical child appears in a muggle family, even if the parents are proud of the child's power, they will not tell anyone about it." Harry frowned as he thought further, then he added, "Those muggleborn wizards can't return to the muggle world either, even if they can handle living in the muggle world, they only truly belong in the magical world."

James frowned as well, "That sounds… unpleasant." He scratched his head, his motions almost mirroring Harry's, "More interactions between the two worlds should be able to solve this." He said uncertainly.

"The meaningless witch burnings in the 14th century- a discussion paper." Harry cocked his head, "Do you recall?"

"Second year History of Magic summer paper?"

"That was the result of wizards interacting with muggles." Harry spread his hands in resignation.

James shook his head and laughed, "Muggles of that time were especially afraid of wizards, they wouldn't be the same now."

Harry shrugged, "You are being too optimistic. There are three ways the muggle world could react to the magical world," He raised three fingers then bent one, "Shocked, but friendly," then he bent a second finger, "Fearful and resentful," then he bent the final finger, "Wanting to capture all magicals and shut them up in research facilities. I must say that the final two are more likely." Until they were faced with the possibility of being destroyed, muggles would never want to interact and communicate with wizards, and by the time both sides were willing to truly negotiate, it might already be too late.

**96.**

Again James scratched his head, still confused and not quite understanding but also adamant, "Harry, I think you're being too pessimistic, muggles are alright. They even have an acceptable amount of culture, they're weak but just. Your experiences, well, they were unique, rare."

"Perhaps." Harry didn't argue but went along with James' words. It was hard for someone who had not experience it to imagine what it was like to be surrounded by those terrible, insect-like, cold and cloying looks- that feeling that you were worst and lower than the dirtiest garbage. Someone who had not experienced it would never understand. Perhaps James has already attributed his words to the pureblood bigotry of Slytherin students.

The topic of muggles was closed and they chatted for a little longer until Harry got up to leave.

The sweet and refreshing scent of bergamot once again filled the air, as though Harry had never left, as though those glistening, intoxicating eyes were still smiling at him and stirring his heart. It was hard to believe that anyone could ever hurt such a beautiful and kind boy, just because he had powers that a muggle didn't- those horrible muggles!

Oh…! James smacked his own head, hard, trying to clear his thoughts. What was happening to him, was he really letting Harry Potter influence him into hating muggles? Muggles were smart and creative, imaginative, and it was the 80s in the 20th century, not the ancient and ignorant 14th century, when muggles only knew to hate wizards, and wizards- at least a third or even half of them- used magic to humiliate or even hurt muggles because muggles were idiotic, stupid, a joke, lowly or useless, that's why muggles need just and upright wizards to protect them, they have the right to live happily.

James vowed to himself, that he was not going to discuss muggles with Slytherins (which meant Harry) anymore, Slytherins were all pureblood supremacists, each and every one of them only cared about blood status, just to different degrees. And their words were often inflammatory and convincing, easily able to mislead others, they were the quintessential brain-washing extremists.

On October 20th, the Quidditch World Cup rematch was held. Almost two hundred thousand people squeezed into the Quidditch stadium, all wearing black bands on their arms. Prior to the match, there was a three-minute period of silence in honor of those who perished on August 15th, then all the lights gathered on Harry and the people began to cheer and clap for him, Harry was still not accustomed to this and his smile was a little stiff as he flushed all over his face and even his neck.

"Baby, you are adorable." Voldemort whispered quietly into his ear. The warm breaths made Harry's ears break out in a second wave of redness. He glared at Voldemort, but the man loved his enticing expression and only hugged him harder.

"Is that young master Harry?" A sultry woman narrowed her eyes as she pointed her omnioculars towards the location where all the lights were centered. "He's just a child, nothing special, not attractive at all."

The woman had a head of short, black curls, messy and flying in every direction, she also had cat-like emerald green eyes. She had a naturally sultry and sensuous air and the close-cut robes in black lace could almost not contain her abundant cleavage, her tiny waist and flawless legs were partially visible under the lace and attracted the eyes of all the men around her- except for the man at her side.

"Miranda, be careful not to insult young master Harry, if the honorable master was to learn of it, you would be sent to Azkaban to receive the dementor's kiss." Jim warned her in a low voice as he glanced around quickly, luckily there was no one familiar nearby.

Miranda did not put down her omnioculars, nor did she relent at Jim's words, "But I'm speaking the truth, young master Harry is not worthy to stand beside our handsome and magnificent master! Look, master is almost twice his size, how could he satisfy our master?"

Jim stared at her in amazement, not able to believe what he had just heard. He quickly took her omnioculars, and berated her as harshly as he could while still keeping his voice lowered. "Are you trying to let everyone in the stadium know we are here? Listen to what you are saying, you should at least know what can and what cannot be said?"

Miranda froze for a few seconds then laughed, "Jimmy, my dear little Jimmy, don't you hate this child who appeared out of nowhere? Do you really believe that all our master's lovers and mistresses over the last thirty years were merely stand-ins for this little sour green apple?"

**97.**

"Oh!" Jim's chest began to rise and fall rapidly and he finally squeezed out he words, still in a low voice, "We are not stand-ins for young master Harry, we are stand-ins for "that person"."

"Isn't Harry Potter "that person"? This child appears out of nowhere one year ago and he immediately consumes all of our master's attention," Miranda's smile was brief and bittersweet, "How dare he? He is only the master's latest fling, just a little more like "that person" than all of us, why does he deserve to receive all of our master's indulgence and caring?"

Jim turned his head to avoid Miranda's eyes and harshly said, "I don't know what you're talking about, young master Harry is our master's nephew."

"You know Jim, you know. From the time Harry Potter appeared, has our master made love to you? Has he touched you? Kissed you? Has he looked at you with those mesmerized eyes as he used to? Our master even commanded us not to pester him or seek him out, on pain of being sent to Azkaban and receiving the dementor's kiss."

Jim gazed coldly into Miranda's eyes, and quietly replied, "Even if our master no longer considers me his lover, he is still our master. Do you not feel the same Miranda?"

Miranda softly brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over her brow, "Of course master is still my master, I just don't like the look of that child, without him, everything will return to how it was before."

"Don't be naïve!" Jim spat out, "Master will never let that happen."

Miranda smiled as she looked back at Jim, "Master cannot always be at that child's side."

"You will not have much chance of getting close to young master Harry."

"No." Miranda again narrowed her eyes, "December 15th will be a good opportunity, I won't need much time, ten minutes would be enough." She looked at Jim inquiringly.

Jim slanted a glance at her, "Don't drag me into this, dupe some other fool into helping you with your plans. I have a feeling that young master Harry is not as easy to handle as you think, you might just fail spectacularly."

"That will not happen." Miranda was very confident.

That day the matched ended at five in the afternoon with no clear victor and all the wizards returned to their camps. Several Death Eaters sought out Voldemort to make reports and Harry wandered outside as he was not interested in listening to that.

"Harry!" A vaguely familiar voice called to him and Harry turned his head to look, "Madam Sue!"

Mary Sue looked much healthier than she had two months ago, her complexion was rosy and her face was full of smiles, the round little face of Lucy, held in her mother's arms, was smiling like a little flower and she gargled as she reached for Harry, asking to be held. They were walking beside a radiant, buxom witch with green eyes, that were in the process trying to legilimenize him, and stylish short hair, Harry felt somewhat self-conscious in her presence. Why did her hair look so much more stylish than his when they both had messy hair?

Harry took little Lucy as Mary Sue introduced the pretty witch to him, "Harry, this is the head of the London branch of the Harry Potter Foundation, Miranda Green, she's 24 years old, a wonderful age for a witch."

"Oh Mary, you jest." Miranda bowed deeply to Harry, "Miranda Green, Greetings young master Harry."

"How do you do Miranda, are you a friend of Madam Sue's?"

Miranda seemed excited at the question, "We hit it off the first time we met at the Harry Potter Foundation."

"Oh, that's wonderful. I'm happy that Madam Sue has a friend like you."

Mary Sue had only come to thank Harry so she and Miranda quickly departed. Harry felt more and more disgruntled as he watched them depart.

Did all of them think he was blind? Approaching him one after another?

First there was Jim and now Miranda shows up, both with messy black hair, big, round, green eyes, a round little nose and a sharp little chin, all resembling him quite a bit.

He hadn't thought anything of it when he had first met Jim, he had just thought that sometimes people resembled each other, but with Miranda also appearing, regardless of whether she had done it deliberately or not, she had clued Harry in to a fact that he was somewhat uncomfortable with.

"Damnit Voldemort, just how many lovers do you have around you?" Harry was truly a little ticked off.

**98.**

"And that stupid woman, trying to legilimenize me—" Harry scowled, it was only polite for him to respond in kind and he had easily breached her defenses as she had tried to breach his mind, once there he had learned some unwelcome news.

"That person"—who was "That person"? Who could inspire Voldemort to repeatedly search for a replacement or stand-in?

His anger was definitely not a result of Miranda thinking that he was a stand-in, he could feel Voldemort's sincerity, and he can also read from Voldemort's thoughts that he was not a stand-in so he was not worried about that, his disgruntlement was over the fact that he had not been aware that Voldemort had so many lovers and mistresses outside of Hogwarts.

So apart from those inside Hogwarts, that old git had that many men and women who he was involved with, even if it was only physically, Harry still felt cheated. He had had so few lovers and he had only made it into bed with one person, how dare that old git have so many? Even though Voldemort had not touched them in the past year, who could tell for sure, maybe he hadn't touched Jim and Miranda, but what about the others? Having had readily available partners and release for so long, could he have been celibate for a whole year?

He had to have been! Had to!

After a lengthy, internal rant over Voldemort's supposed infidelity, Harry returned to Voldemort's tent, feeling much better. "That person"… interesting, he would have to find out who it was that Voldemort was comparing him to, luckily that stupid woman will tell him this voluntarily on December 15th, then he will find out what had happened between "that person" and Voldemort in the past- he wouldn't compete with someone already dead and gone, though he was curious as to what kind of person could inspire Voldemort to search for replacements for more than thirty years. It should be someone already dead and gone, after all, he was older than Voldemort and couldn't be found anywhere in the world.

When Harry returned to the tent, Voldemort had coincidentally just concluded his business, Harry passionately jumped into his arms then continued to hug Voldemort in different ways, burying his delicate face into Voldemort's chest.

Voldemort was happy as well as confused, Harry voluntarily hugging him and jumping into his arms was a good thing, and he was very happy at this, but why did Harry keep sniffing him? As though there was some bad odor coming from his body. He immediately wanted to check if that was the case but gave up as Harry was still almost hanging from his body.

Harry sniffed Voldemort again, thoroughly, but did not find any foreign or strange smells, just the usual musky scent. He knew that this would be the case but couldn't help wanting to mess with Voldemort a little. The things Miranda had told him made him feel very uncomfortable and he was venting by playing a prank on Voldemort. Right now, he was endlessly entertained by Voldemort's confusion over Harry's actions.

Straightening away from Voldemort's arms, he feigned solemnity as he spoke to Voldemort, "Voldy, your body…" He didn't continue but his frown was very expressive. He still hesitantly hugged Voldemort, but his posture screamed of contradiction, like he wanted to run away but couldn't to bear leave Voldemort all alone.

Finally not able to bear this anymore, Voldemort softly pulled away Harry's arms then very, very, very carefully sniffed at his own body. He smelled fine, there was no strange odor? He looked suspiciously at Harry, but the young man looked back at him in such a pitiful manner, his arms rising then dropping back to his sides, rising then dropping back, his face filled with perseverance and helplessness, like he wanted to cover his nose with his hand but seeing as how it was Voldemort, he did not want to do something so hurtful. Voldemort started to wonder whether there was something wrong with his sense of smell so he sniffed a couple more times, then looked at Harry to find his expression showing even more discomfit, his face getting redder and redder, obviously holding his breath. Finally he made a resolute decision and rushed into the bathroom, before dinner he bathed five times, until he had gotten a little dizzy, then he poured an entire bottle of aftershave over his body. While he was bathing, Harry was in his own room, rolling on the floor with laughter, even though the overpowering scent coming from Voldemort almost ruined his good mood at supper time, as the scent was quite refreshing, Harry was able to refrain from kicking Voldemort right back into the bathroom.

Jim looked lazily at a disappointed Miranda as she returned to the tent, "So, you failed?"

Miranda snorted, "I didn't think that master would have already taught that little brat occlumency."

Jim laughed derisively, "With how much master dotes over the young master, it's only natural that he would have taught the young master occlumency so that he would not be ambushed by those who mean him harm."

Miranda snorted at him again, "No more of your gloomy discouragement, I will succeed. He's just an unworldly brat, I will be able to easily destroy his convictions and break his resolve, he will leave the master out of his own feelings of shame and inadequacy."

"I'll wait and see if that comes to pass."

**99.**

The Quidditch World Cup match continued for five days, with Germany finally thrashing England 500:140. This result brought a not so pleasant expression to Voldemort's face. Harry could only console him by drawing his attention to Ludo Bagman's superior skills.

"Ludo Bagman played very well, the English team isn't useless after all."

"Apart from him, England had no other players able to score, it was a waste of six perfectly good Firebolts!" Always arrogant and not fond of defeat, Voldemort was still hung up over the massive point difference. "England did quite well in the European Club competitions, why are they so incompetent when it comes to national level matches. If it wasn't for the fact that they were the host country this time, they might not even have made it to the finals."

This was an issue that Harry had given some thought to during the odd lulls in the war in the 21st century, as a rare entertainment as well as a way to exercise his mind, so now it was easy for him to express his findings from those times, "The reason the club match results were much better was because many of the club teams had foreign talent playing on their teams, players from France, Italy, Germany, and they all hold important positions in the clubs' starting team. The skills of these players boost the overall ability of the team and the team then does well in the club matches, but at the same time young English players are unable to get any playing experience in high level matches. No club would risk their match results by using younger, inexperienced players and so younger players are never truly trained or developed, they are also unable to improve their skills, how could a national team manned by such players hope to win?" Harry raised his brows and shrugged, expressing the futility of such actions, "The abilities of the national team and the match results of the clubs combine into something of an un-resolveable paradox."

"An un-resolveable paradox?" Voldemort hugged Harry tightly to him and buried his nose into the soft black hair, breathing in the faint, milky scent. He loves watching Harry's eyes when he's concentrated on something, those eyes makes him want to kiss Harry, and that is exactly what he did, press butterfly kisses all over Harry's eyes and face, at the same time mumbling his own contradictory opinion, "There must be some way to resolve the situation."

Harry tried repeatedly to avoid the tickling sensations from Voldemort's kisses but the man just held him tighter when he realized Harry was trying to get away. Giving up, Harry replied, "You own three Quidditch clubs, with many young players, would you be willing to use these players in your club matches?"

"Of course not." Voldemort was matter-of-fact as he replied, "Young players' skills are far from honed and their emotions are not as stable, if I used them my teams would be downgraded after a single year."

Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes, "And yet you insist that "there must be a way to resolve the situation.""

"Hmm… there will be one in the future." Voldemort was busy sucking on Harry's slick, sweet little tongue, "The clubs are more important… how do you know so much?" These were not things that a sixteen year old should be able to understand.

Even though his thoughts and mind were hazy from the kiss, he had learned how to concentrate on more than one thing at a time, from Voldemort himself, "That's… a… secret, not… telling… you."

In November, the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff Quidditch match resulted in a 400:20 victory for Gryffindor with James easily catching the snitch thirty minutes after the game began. The abysmal performance of his opponents restored most of James' confidence, after all not every team could have a crazy player like Harry Potter, and James was not easily defeated by just anyone. The delightful date with Lily after the match also cheered him up quite a bit, if only his effort to learn the Patronus charm went as well, he would be overjoyed.

In accordance with Harry's schedule, the students should complete the course on dealing with dementors prior to the Christmas holidays so that they could begin on the unforgiveables after the holidays. To deal with dementors, one must learn the Patronus charm so in essence these sessions were to teach students how to cast the Patronus charm. Before teaching the students, it would of course be necessary for the instructor and his assistant themselves to know this charm, the problem was that James had never learnt such a difficult spell before. So Harry had no choice but to increase the number of times the two met as well as extend each meeting, he was intimately familiar with how hard it could be to learn this spell so he was even more patient than usual during these meetings, he also showed warm and gentle encouragement during the whole process.

Due to the highly disturbing nature of dementors, Harry and Dumbledore had jointly decided to only use real dementors in the final two sessions, so how should they solve the issue of dementors in the sessions prior to that? Dumbledore had two suggestions, one, do as Professor Benedict did during the last OWLs examinations, conjure a dementor, this was a dark arts spell, but the conjured dementor's powers and effect would be quite far from that of a real dementor, two, find a boggart then confound it so that it believed that everyone standing in front of it was Harry, it would then turn into a dementor every time. Harry chose the second option so the next day Voldemort found a boggart and it was locked into a closet. It was this boggart turned dementor that James faced in his practices.

**100.**

It did not take a long time to teach James to just cast the Patronus charm, as recently there had been so many things that made him happy, almost with a random thought he could produce a sturdy, silver stag that would canter around the classroom then slowly dissipate. To this Harry provided lavish praise, but when he came face to face with the boggart turned dementor, James' lessons no longer progressed so smoothly.

James' only knowledge of dementors came from brief mentions from his parents, even from these brief words, James' imagination was able to conjure the image of a terrifying monster, evil, disgusting and able to suck out a person's happiness and hope, making them despondent and making them feel hopeless, they were even able to suck out a person's soul, turning that person into a soulless shell. Why was Azkaban such a frightening place, that it was the only choice of where to send the magical world's criminals? Because it was guarded by these terrifying monsters!

But being relatively inexperienced and naïve, James did not really know true fear. Having never seen a real dementor before, in his mind, something terrifying would be like those man-eating trolls or giants that he had witnessed on August 15th. To him, nothing could be more terrifying than giants because apart from the killing curse, there weren't many ways they could be harmed or deterred. So when James stood in front of the closet, he was filled with confidence.

It had never occurred to him that mental pressure could be the most effective.

Seeing that James was prepared, Harry opened the closet and released the boggart. Seeing James in front of it, the boggart immediately transformed into a figure in a long, black cloak, almost as tall as the ceiling, almost in the same instant, the air in the room turned icy, as though the whole room had been filled with ice.

James started to tremble uncontrollably at seeing the monster in front of him, he felt like his blood had frozen instantaneously and the icy feeling almost loosened his grip on his wand. He couldn't clearly see what the dementor looked like but the more indistinct the figure was, the more James' chest felt like it was being buried in ice. As the dementor took a tremulous yet strangely loud breath, James's dwindling courage and determination disappeared completely. He wanted to back away but his body was frozen still, he wanted to yell for help but his voice was drowned in the ice in his mouth, he could only stand there, still and robbed of any thoughts, only able to watch silently as the dementor reached its bony hands towards him, the hand was grey, yet slightly glowing, like something dead and rotting. Those hands were curled into two black claws as they reached towards him, in James' eyes they looked like they were moving in slow motion, but in truth they were moving quite fast, James was consumed with despair.

But his worst fear did not come to pass, a huge, silver cobra coiled in front of him, holding the horrifying dementor back, faced with the cobra, the dementor immediately stopped then rapidly retreated and flashed back into the closet, Harry slammed the closet door closed with a bang.

He ran to James and carefully inspected him as he hurriedly asked, "Are you feeling alright? Are you dizzy? Or nauseous?" He hadn't thought that James would react so badly, of course his reaction was not as bad as Harry's first meeting with a dementor but it was still significant. It seems that dementors have quite a detrimental effect on students.

Staring fixedly at the silver cobra until it turned into silver mist which then dissipated, James finally released a long, drawn-out breath, his body sliding bonelessly to the ground, stuttering when he spoke, "I…I'm… fine… no special…reactions… I… just feel… really cold…."

Harry quickly helped him up into a chair, "Sit, just rest for a moment." He pulled a piece of chocolate from his pocket, broke off half and handed it to James, "Here, eat some. If you aren't able to summon a patronus, chocolate can help you recover."

Throwing out all thoughts of propriety and dignity, James took the chocolate and swallowed it all in several huge bites, he shut his eyes tightly and color slowly returned to his pallid cheeks, his breathing also returning to normal. He slowly opened his eyes, then smiled bitterly as he shook his head, "That was… wow… a dementor, so that's what a dementor is like. How could such a monster exist?"


	12. Chapters 101 to 112

**101.**

"Yes, that was a dementor." Thinking back on his own hardships when learning the Patronus charm, he shook his head, "My reaction when I first met a dementor was much worse than yours, I actually fainted."

James turned to look at him in amazement, voice shrill partly from fear and partly from disbelief, "You fainted?" Harry wasn't having him on was he?

Harry nodded seriously, "I fainted, I reacted in the worst possible way."

James stared at Harry for a full ten minutes, his rigid body slowly loosening, the fear and despair in his heart disappearing to be replaced with a hint of smugness- he was better than Harry Potter! At least he didn't react so badly as to faint, he just got out of breath and was unable to move. He would never have imagined that the seemingly all-knowing, fearless and always-calm Harry Potter could react so ineptly to anything, James' low spirits from always being over-shadowed by Harry finally lifted. So Harry Potter was not omnipotent after all, there were times when he, James, can be stronger than Harry Potter!

"So, how long did it take you to learn the Patronus charm?" He asked with seeming nonchalance.

Those clever eyes rolled as a hint of a smile appear on Harry's face. It was so easy to know what James was thinking, because his thoughts were written all over his face. There was no need to even think about using legilimency.

"How long…" Harry deliberately dragged out his words and although James attempted to keep his expression neutral, his darting eyes and clenched fists betrayed how intent he was on Harry's answer. If he knew Harry's answer James would have yelled it out for him. In this sort of situation James really was quite intriguing, Harry quirked his lips and smiled mysteriously. James, more concerned with trying to appear uncaring of Harry's answer, missed the meaningful quirk of Harry's lips. "It took me quite a while, almost a quarter of a school year."

Harry's apparent shame at this statement convinced James that he was telling the truth and James' determination was thus completely restored. It seems that dementors were Harry Potter's weakness, so much so that it took him months to completely master the Patronus charm. He would not be as inept as Harry Potter, he had one week until the sessions on the dementors, he will definitely master the Patronus charm as soon as possible, preferably within the week!

At this thought, he felt like he was filled with strength, as though there was a fire raging in his chest and his body warmed up. He stood in high spirits and picked up his wand, strutting over to the closet, he nodded at Harry confidently, then loudly said, "Open the closet, I've rested enough!"

He was such a child, easily pushed back in to full confidence with tiny prods, Harry thought as he looked at the effects of his own manipulations, then solemnly and quickly he opened the closet door.

Unfortunately, James still utterly failed at this second attempt.

James slumped dejectedly into the chair, the chocolate in his mouth nowhere near as sweet as it was twenty minutes ago, only tasting bitter. He felt that his own performance was not much better than Harry Potter's, when facing the coldly terrifying dementor, his wand was only able to shoot out a stream of silver mist, more slender than a girl's finger. He had thought that he would be able to beat Harry Potter, but the result… the more he thought about it, the more annoyed and dejected he became.

"What's this? Why are you so upset?" Harry was smiling as he asked, handing James another piece of chocolate.

James refused the chocolate, his actions rather belligerent and his voice rough as he growled, "Laugh! Laugh as much as you want! Mock me some more, I'm a big boy, I can take it!"

Harry blinked in apparent confusion, "Why would I be laughing at you, or mock you? You did very well in producing the silver mist- I wasn't able to do that until the second week, you're doing great!"

"Really?" James was a little dubious.

"Of course, why would I lie to you." Harry's face was filled with sincerity.

James' spirits immediately lifted again, the partially melted chocolate in his mouth finally tasting sweet. He scratched his head in embarrassment, not knowing what to say in response as he felt somewhat ashamed and a little proud, myriad feelings swirled around his mind and finally he chuckled self-consciously, "I'm still too afraid, otherwise…"

"Otherwise you would be able to kick that dementor's ass." Harry continued, "I know you can do it."

James flushed.

**102.**

"James," Harry patted James' shoulder, "Let us summarize this practice, you'll definitely be able to do better next time."

The two began a heated discussion, perhaps his thoughts were not happy enough, so the effects were not as good, perhaps he was too disturbed by the presence of the dementor so he was unable to fully concentrate, perhaps… James was a little dazed as he looked at Harry. Those intelligent eyes were so alluring, that quirk of his lips so gentle, James' heart felt like it was burning.

Even though he had not understood in the beginning why Harry had brought up his own shameful experiences, after this torturous session James understood completely. It was to encourage him, to give him the confidence and motivation to learn the Patronus charm as quickly as possible. James could admit to himself that compared to Harry, he had no special talents or intellect, so as to Harry's "a quarter of a school year"- James was not an idiot, he knows that there is much to do to master the Patronus charm in the presence of a dementor and his target of mastering it within one week was just too hard. If he tried, he would only look the fool. If their positions were reversed, James would have been happy to watch Harry make a fool of himself, but Harry Potter was not willing to see James be ridiculed. To prevent this from happening, Harry was even will to share his own less than wonderful experiences with James, to encourage him, Harry Potter… Harry… Harry… why wasn't he a Gryffindor? Slytherin doesn't deserve him!

James again stood in front of the closet, "Open it Harry."

Harry adamantly shook his head, "No James, no. You're tried three times today, you're exhausted and on edge. This is enough. You can practice again tomorrow, today you should return to your dorm and rest."

"I can still…"

"James!" Harry's authoritative voice stopped James' in his tracks, "I said enough! If you continue to insist I will take you back to your dorm myself!" First a _Petrificus Totalus_, then _Wingarium Leviosa_, levitating him all the way back to his dorm like a piece of luggage.

James grew silent and stopped protesting. No matter how much his opinion of Harry Potter had changed, Slytherins still weren't Gryffindors. If Harry really took him back to his dorm by force, it would cause a major ruckus and Harry would be the target of many harsh words- no matter whether Harry had hexed him or was helping him, Harry was a Slytherin and that would be enough for his housemates. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

James slumped, exhausted, over the table, Harry handed him a piece of chocolate which he took, then he pried open his own mouth with trembling hands to happily toss the chocolate inside, he was tired, but he was also completely thrilled. "That… stag… was quite… something right?"

There were another five days until the first session on dementors and several minutes ago, James was finally able to manifest a sturdy stag, the stag ran viciously towards the boggart dementor and rammed it, forcing it back into the closet.

Harry was always will to lavish praise and recognition on his students when they perform well. "Yes, it was very good. A wonderful patronus, strong and totally able to protect you."

James sighed in contentment, although he was tired, he couldn't help but smile again and again. "It really was a beauty of a stag, I've never seen such a handsome fellow, and the way he ran was brilliant too!"

Harry just smiled as he periodically ate some chocolate. Letting James ramble on, James had kept it all in for too long, it was good for him to let it all out.

"But it didn't last long enough, right?"

Harry was shocked out of his thoughts by James' sudden question, not knowing what this excited fellow was talking about now. Making an effort to swallow his mouthful of chocolate, he asked, "What do you mean?"

James suddenly got to his feet, as though all his fatigue had disappeared, excitedly he said, "I feel that the amount of time my patronus manifests is too short compared to yours, should we practice again?"

"…" Harry had no idea what he could say to this.

Having James' experience as a template, Harry and James had a rough understanding of how the other students would perform when learning the Patronus charm. It isn't hard to produce a patronus so most students were able to produce one after their first sessions. This resulted in an interesting little scene.

Lily's patronus was a beautifully formed doe, soft and delicate. James eagerly called his own patronus and the two silver animals looked lovingly into each other's eyes, running side by side until they disappeared. Lily's face grew red at this but there was no hiding her joy.

It was at this that Harry was finally able to relax, James' and Lily's Patroni were a stag and a doe, these Patroni had clearly demonstrated that the hearts of the two were tightly intertwined and would never part.

That was wonderful, wasn't it?

But Harry did not see that when James' gaze shifted from Lily to Harry, it was filled with disquiet, loss and conflict.

**103.**

His own patronus acting intimately with Lily's own was a demonstration of his ability, that he had won the heart of the girl he loves and it was something to be envied by other boys and girls, James could see Lily's boundless joy through her seductive shyness and it was a balm to his masculine pride, but once his head cleared after the rush of the moment, he felt some regret and some uneasiness, although he wasn't sure why he felt this way. His thoughts were a jumble and he was disquieted, for some reason, he felt afraid as his gaze involuntarily swung to Harry, anxiously worrying that he would find anger on that delicate, beautiful face. He was afraid that Harry would be angry, he didn't know why, he was just afraid. But it turns out that Harry didn't feel at all angry, in fact he looked somewhat relieved and a little glad. James' heart grew heave, as though it was being crushed under a big rock, and bitterness started to seep through him, suddenly he was angry, with no way to express his anger.

In the second session on dementors, Harry and James brought the closet and Harry again prepared a large amount of chocolate. James had originally thought that Harry had brought too much chocolate, but after the session the chocolate Harry brought was almost not enough. The students were all terrified by the dementor and none of them could call their Patroni to protect themselves, only a few of the students were able to shoot a silver mist out the tip of their wands, it was not enough to drive the boggart back, but it was a better showing than most of the other students.

Over the weekend, the upperclassmen were all intently practicing the Patronus charm. Various silver animals were running all over the corridors, the Great Hall and all the common rooms. They exchanged their experiences, pointed out each others' weaknesses, and tried to do their best. Their performance in the last session made all the students feel ashamed.

On Monday's session there wasn't too much improvement, again a big dent was made in Harry's supply of chocolate. Voldemort was very dissatisfied, not only because the students of Slytherin house were still unable to drive away a dementor after three sessions on the Patronus charm, but also, and mostly, because the students of all four houses had eaten all of Harry's chocolate! Voldemort had bought that chocolate for Harry and now it had all gone to feed those other students, now Harry had no chocolate to eat! Luckily, Harry was by now, well practiced at putting out the flames of rage, with a couple of sweet kisses, several rounds of affectionate pouting and sweet words, plus solemn promises not to "donate" any more of his own chocolate to a "worthy cause", the mighty demon king was soothed back into happiness. The next day, all the Slytherin students, led by Lucius, sent emergency owl requests home for chocolate to be sent, as much as possible and as quickly as possible.

The Patronus charm took five sessions to master, one more than originally scheduled. It was fortunate that Harry had planned for this when he was setting the schedule and had reserved an extra session, otherwise they might have been in a bit of trouble.

After learning the Patronus charm, the DADA remedial sessions were temporarily suspended, Christmas was slowly approaching and prior to this, Hogwarts would be host to another momentous occasion.

In order to usher in this event, Hogwarts Castle was subjected to a thorough cleaning. All the portraits were scrubbed clean, despite their muttering about preferring the layers of centuries old dust, or their adamant statements that they preferred to remain as dirty as they had been in the last several centuries. The squeaky suits of armor were all well oiled so that they made no noise when they moved, their gaits smooth. The Castle was completely spotless and everyone was intent on making their own appearance just as spotless, many rushing to revise their etiquette in the remaining time. Everyone was eagerly anticipating the arrival of December 15th.

As dawn was just breaking on December 15th, Harry was lifted out of bed by Voldemort. He had slept in Voldemort's bed last night as Voldemort had insisted that he needed to wake Harry early enough so that he could be properly dressed and groomed.

Harry did not wake so Voldemort personally performed his daily ablutions for him, regretfully Harry woke up in the middle of the bath so Voldemort was not able to indulge himself too much.

The best personal style designer of the magical world, Mr. Bode, had arrived at Hogwarts last night along with his six assistants, with Dumbledore's approval, they had rested overnight in the guest quarters of the Slytherin dungeons. They had been waiting outside Voldemort's quarters since before the sun rose, waiting to be called by Voldemort.

**104.**

After bathing, Voldemort called Bode into his rooms to design Harry's look for the ceremony.

Bode walked lightly into the room, his six assistants following behind him, only Bode dared to look directly at Harry, the assistants all kept their heads lowered, worried that they would incur Voldemort's wrath if they stared. Bode had warned them prior to this.

Bode was a very experienced style designer and he had worked for countless rich, famous and/or powerful people in the magical words but still, this job put him under tremendous pressure. As a Death Eater, he knew well what harry Potter meant to Voldemort. Not just an heir, nor just a bed mate, but something on a deeper level, something irreplaceable. His being appointed to be young master Harry's style designer for the awards ceremony for his Order of Merlin, as well as the unveiling of his statue clearly indicated his master's high opinion of Bode's ability, it also put him under significant pressure. If he should fail at this task, loss of his reputation would be the least of his worries, if young master Harry's reputation or image should suffer under his efforts, he would likely not survive the punishment from his powerful master. He had come up with hundreds of designs which he then whittled down to ten perfect designs with the painstaking help of his designer colleagues and his assistants, he had then submitted the ten designs to his master Voldemort and was overjoyed when he received his master's commendation and acceptance of all ten. That was undeniably a most fortuitous event but it was also a great source of headaches as he had to wait until December 15th, when he could see young master Harry in person, to make a final decision as to which design would best suit the young master. Merlin was he fortunate that he was able to almost instantaneously make a decision on first seeing young master Harry.

In his eyes, young master Harry is pure and innocent, both in mind and in body. It was hard to imagine master Voldemort, who used to have bed mates almost every night, abstaining for more than a year, but the facts were indisputable, young master Harry was still a virgin, his lack of experience and bashfulness was clearly visible on his face. Young master Harry was kind and fearless, courageous, humble, intelligent, compassionate, forgiving, just, all these wonderful character traits were perfectly embodied in Harry Potter, his soul was that of a pure and untainted angel, although Bode was not sure what an angel was doing in Slytherin. Harry's purity of the body and soul caused him to immediately set aside nine of his designs, leaving him with the one that he thought he would not be using, but that both he and Voldemort had been incredibly in love with.

First Bode trimmed Harry's hair into neat and distinct layers, then he used white, feather shaped combs to put Harry's hair up into an elegant style. With every movement, the diamonds set in the combs in Harry's hair sparkled. Then he helped Harry into the clothing that he had carefully selected. Shirt, pants, vest, robes, cloak, gloves and shoes, all pure white, without even a hint of any other color, almost completely unadorned with distracting patterns and decorations, the only decorations were two white, feathers, set with pearls, placed at the collar of his shirt and stripes of soft white fur lining the cuffs and hem of his robes.

Standing there silently, Harry was still not used to others' scrutiny and he self-consciously blinked his emerald green eyes, a faint flush staining his delicate face. Bode thought that he was an angel somehow fallen to the earth and even though he had somehow lost his brilliant white wings, he was still radiant and unparalleled.

"What is it? Do I look very bad?" Harry was nervous as he asked this, he thought he looked alright. He peeked at Voldemort through his long, nervously fluttering lashes, Voldemort was a much better judge of beauty and aesthetics than him, seeing Voldemort's blank and unresponsive expression, he started to wonder whether he really looked that bad.

"No, you look wonderful." Finally recovering his wits, Voldemort replied as he stretched out his hand, Bode immediately put the milky white bottle of perfume in his master's hand, then he signaled his assistants and they all left room, carefully closing the door behind them.

**105.**

"Wonderful? But you…" Harry raised his head, confused as he searched for words.

Masculine lips covered his own sensuous, delicate lips and Harry's heart stuttered as he closed his eyes reflexively. The man's chuckle was throaty as he deftly pulled that soft, petite body tightly into his arms. The young man's body, not yet fully matured, fit perfectly into the man's embrace and his completely unguarded attitude was the headiest seduction to the man's crumbling control. His Harry almost belonged totally to him, almost, the man's thoughts were pensive as he kissed his Harry deeply. He wants to completely possess Harry, completely and utterly, so that Harry's heart, soul and body all belonged to him- it was yet a distant target with fulfillment in sight.

After taking his time kissing Harry, Voldemort carefully restored Harry's flawless and pristine appearance, the ceremony was a prestigious one and it was not open to the ordinary wizard, all the attendees were either ministry officials or Hogwarts students, at 12:00 lunch break began, at 14:00 Hogwarts would be open to receive guest from all over the world, the cart carrying the statue of Harry would also be driven into Hogwarts at this time, the statue will then be placed in Hogwarts Castle, at 14:30 the unveiling ceremony would begin, at 18:00 the evening banquet will be held in Hogwarts' Great Hall and it will be attended by ministry officials, students from the three magical schools, as well as many upper class members of magical Great Britain and carefully selected political guests from other countries. By 21:00 at the latest, Hogwarts will return to its usual calm and quiet.

Harry doesn't really understand why something that could be completed in one to two hours would end up taking up a whole day, Voldemort's reply was that it was politics.

At breakfast, Harry's breathtaking beauty stunned most of the teachers and students. James tried as hard as he could to concentrate on his conversation with Lily but did not have much success as his eyes kept drifting uncontrollably towards the other end of the hall, to stare at the angel amidst that bunch of snakes.

Seeing her boyfriend's unusual expression, Lily followed James' gaze then smiled happily, "Harry is so beautiful isn't he?"

James felt like his heart had stopped and his body was icing over as he slowly and rigidly turned to look at Lily, he felt like he was choking as he replied, "Wh-what did you say? I didn't quite hear you." He had to say, his voice was very steady, revealing no hint of his current feelings of guilt and apprehension.

Lily generously pointed to Harry, "I said that Harry is beautiful, don't you think so?"

Uncertain as to Lily's intentions, James tried to laugh it off but didn't dare look into Lily's eyes. "Lily, men aren't beautiful, you should say handsome or striking."

"But Harry is beautiful," Lily was captivated as she looked at Harry, "His beauty comes from within, not something one could imitate, I can't help feeling jealous."

"Je-jealous?" James was so shaken he almost dropped his fork and sweat broke out all over his back, "What's there to be jealous over, Harry is a man."

Lily tried to restrain herself but finally lost the battle and broke out into laughter, "Look at you James, you're sweating." She took out her handkerchief and tenderly wiped James' brow, "I'm just kidding!" How could she ever be jealous of Harry over something like this? "Harry is so radiant and gorgeous, it's only natural that you would want to watch him, it's alright to watch him if you want, after all, it's not like I'm so petty that I would be unhappy about that."

James' heartbeat finally returned to normal, his relief was so great he almost slid bonelessly to the floor. Hurriedly taking a sip of his orange juice he said, "Lily, I am a Gryffindor, staring so openly at a Slytherin student would not be appropriate. Look at the boys in our house, they're not staring." He glanced bitterly at all the Gryffindor girls, envious that they could openly, passionately and unblinkingly stare at Harry as much they liked, they were almost drooling!

Lily snorted derisively, "The other boys aren't staring openly, they're sneaking looks at Harry, just like you did just then. They're not being courageous and proper at all, and they call themselves Gryffindors! Appreciation of beauty is something that is both natural and decent, but they're acting like thieves!" These words caused almost every male Gryffindor to lower their heads and stuff food into their mouths to hide their embarrassment.

**106.**

At 9:30 ministry officials began arriving at Hogwarts, there were no students lined up to welcome them as it was decided that it was more important and appropriate for students to attend the unveiling ceremony rather than the awarding of the Order of Merlin, accordingly, all the students were commanded to go to their morning classes as usual. Of course, this did not stop the curious from continually opening windows and leaning out to gawk at the proceedings, their excitement was even enough to withstand the bitingly cold north wind.

"Look, that's the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement!"

"Those were the Head and Deputy Head Aurors!"

"That was the Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic!"

The students whispered and muttered to each other as, one after another, famous and prominent people that they would normally never have contact with appeared, the Slytherins, who were more familiar with or who had had contact with some of these people, couldn't help feeling superior as they boasted and preened. Some students envied them, others were jealous, while still others despised them for their actions and connections. The one thing all students had in common was their excitement over being able to personally see these distinguished guests without the help of their parents or family. Especially considering that these guests will not depart until after the evening banquet, this meant that the students would be able to make use of the next several hours to capture the guests' notice or attention in some way, for those students of fifth year and above, this temptation was too much to resist.

Entering Hogwarts with the ministry officials were media representatives from all over the world, they had all been rigorously checked by the British Ministry before being allowed to attend today's events, take photos and conduct interviews. They were all excellent professionals from each country's most influential newspapers, but in the case of Ms. Rita Skeeter, perhaps it would be more accurate to use the word incendiary rather than excellent.

Some not so pleasant memories floated to the top of his mind and Harry swallowed with difficulty, "Um…, Voldy, why is Rita Skeeter here? Is… is she very popular?"

Voldemort glanced at Harry's suddenly pale face with some puzzlement as he answered, "She is popular, mainly because her articles are able to stimulate the fragile nerves of the wizarding people."

Yes, she had also destroyed his own fragile nerves in the past. "Do you admire her?" Harry's mouth tasted bitter as he asked this.

Voldemort hesitated then answered in a decisive tone, "It's not that I admire here, the main thing is that newspapers with her articles sell phenomenally well and so she is highly regarded by the ministry."

"But she loves to make stuff up." Harry objected timidly.

Voldemort rubbed his chin as he expressed his agreement, "Yes, she is usually completely inaccurate, but wizards like that and that is also how the ministry prefers things to be." He smiled as he gently caressed Harry's soft black hair, to ease Harry' apparent worry, he said, "Trust me Harry, she won't dare to try anything with you. She will be strictly professional in her interview with you, this I promise."

Understanding the underlying allusion in Voldemort's words, Harry's eyes went wide with alarm, "She's not going to be interviewing me alone is she?" He had thought that Rita would be amongst the other reports when she questioned him!

"Of course, she is the only reporter from the "Daily Prophet", as well as the only British reporter- don't be like this Harry, don't feel bad my little treasure, you have nothing to worry about, I will be with you."

Harry's color immediately improved as his spirits lifted, "You'll be with me during the interview?"

"Yes, Rita Skeeter is not someone easily handled and her skill at twisting words and making innuendos is incredibly well honed. With me there, she will not dare get up to any of her usual tricks."

"You're the best Voldy!" Feeling both happy and very relieved, Harry gave Voldemort a strong hug.

At 10:00, all the guests had been seated in the Great Hall and all the reports had taken advantage of the limited time to compose short commentaries and introductions, the photographers had also release a significant amount of smoke into the hall from their flash bulbs. It was finally time for the ceremony to begin.

First, the Minister for Magic, Charles Peron made a speech on the podium placed where the teachers' table usually was, it was a short speech that mainly summarized Harry's actions and achievements on August 15th and expressed the ministry's recognition and aspirations for his future, next the two senior undersecretaries, Barty Crouch and Frank Malfoy also made speeches, thanking Harry for his selflessness and bravery, as well as thanking him on behalf of witches and wizards from all over the world.

**107.**

Following this, Charles Peron once again rose shakily to his feet, then proceeded to the stage with Barty Crouch and Frank Malfoy following him, a young, pretty witch from the ministry walkin at his side holding a small golden box in her hands, the high point of the ceremony was about to begin.

As Voldemort smiled and the guests applauded, Harry rose to his feet then proceeded unhurriedly towards the Minister for Magic, not a hint of tension appearing on his calm, placid face, as though this was not an important awards ceremony for him, as though the place was not filled with high-ranking ministry officials and guests from ministries from all over the world, as though the attention of countless eyes all over the world were not concentrated on him at this moment. Harry walked as though this was just a normal and minor meeting, requiring no special attention, his poise received high marks from all those present. No one realized that Harry was actually a little nervous, when he took the first few steps, the regard of hundreds of guests had made him feel as though his body was burning all over, but he quickly calmed again, after all, he was Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived-Twice! Although he had not experienced such things in this life, in the last one he had gone through countless scenes of bloodshed and was a highly experienced warrior, he had also been used to being place under a microscope, stared at, as well as being pointed at and discussed by everyone, all the time, Harry was easily able to recover the calm self-assurance and equanimity of those times.

As he reached Charles Peron, he bowed as gracefully and elegantly as any aristocrat- after six years in Slytherin house, he had finally learned some pureblood manners, amidst a sea of flashes, Charles Peron took the golden box from the witch, another sea of flashes as he opened the box, showing the gold medallion inside to everyone, again a sea of flashes as he closed the box, flashes as he handed the box to Harry with a restrained smile, flashes as Harry opened the box, flashes as Harry displayed his new Order of Merlin, First Class to the crowd, flashes as Harry displayed the box together with Charles Peron, flashes as Charles and the other two senior undersecretaries returned to their seats.

Harry was sweating as the ceremony was finally completed, just the deluge of flashes were a lot for him to handle. When Voldemort had first explained the rundown of the ceremony to him, he had specifically told Harry that each motion must be performed separately and that there must be a pause between each, so that the photographers will have enough time to take their pictures. Inexperienced as he was, Harry had no concept of these things, it is only after having gone through it once that he was truly able to realize how difficult these things were, without years of training, not only might one appear stiff as a corpse, but one might also have been rendered useless by the repeated noises of the cameras clicking, as Harry almost was.

Harry did not leave the stage after receiving his award as this was the beginning of the press conference. One after another, reporters of different skin color and nationalities rose to ask fast-paced questions. How are you feeling, how do you feel about the ministry, why did you establish the Harry Potter Foundation, what do you think you will be doing after graduation, and so on and so on, Harry was able to calmly and articulately present his answers. Voldemort had provided him with a list of questions and their standard responses, then watched over him to make sure he clearly remembered every single word, his answers at the press conference proved that Harry was an adequate student.

But surprises can always occur.

One witch, with slightly curly, short black hair and mesmerizing green eyes, made especially bright and alluring by a faint hint of sorrow and resentment, stood to ask a question. "Greetings Mr. Harry Potter, I'm from the Bulgarian News Agency. I would like to ask Mr. Harry Potter, whether you have a special someone."

Harry froze for a moment, then felt his anger rise, if it wasn't for the fact that Voldemort was looking at the reporter with surprise as well as clear disapproval, before turning to look at Harry with both anticipation and joy, he might have rushed off the stage and taken a bite out of Voldemort.

Bulgaria, your reach is certainly long isn't it, Voldemort!

**108.**

Harry had no intention of answering this question as it was an invasion of his privacy and he had the right to refuse to answer, even if Voldemort wanted to know the answer. He was not interested in letting this become a topic of gossip for wizards all over the world.

"I'm sorry Miss, that is private and I have no comments." Harry saw Voldemort's face fall with disappointment.

The female reporter was unrelenting, smiling quickly, she said, "Perhaps my question was too forward, I apologize, Mr. Harry Potter, let me instead ask, what type of girl do you like?"

"As I have already mentioned, that is private."

"Mr. Harry Potter, you must be aware that many admire you and that you are both an idol and an aspiration to many young boys and girls. After all I am only asking you what kind of girl you like, that is not really a question that invades your privacy." The reporter was convincing in her rebuttal.

Seeing that Harry was somewhat intimidated by her response, the reporter quickly continued, "Mr. Harry Potter, forgive my blunt words, but all the previous questions from my colleagues were too serious and formal, not at all suitable for young ladies and gentlemen to read, so please, respond to one or two questions for our younger readers."

In the face of the reporter's insistence, Harry had no adequate denial, he could only point all his rage at Voldemort as he stared viciously at him. Voldemort had previously assured him that if any reporter asked an inappropriate question, Frank Malfoy would put a stop to it and redirect the reporters' attention, but now… unfortunately Voldemort took no notice of Harry's burning, vicious gaze, too intent on hearing Harry's reply to this and the next question.

"Mr. Harry Potter." Spotting Harry's hesitancy, the reporter quickly urged again.

Having no other recourse, Harry tried hard to recall what Ginny looked like, it had been so long, he almost could not recall the appearance of the woman who had once held such a vital place in his heart. "I like strong, independent, upright, mature girls, especially if they have curly red hair."

"Thank you, and what kind of boys do you like Mr. Harry Potter?"

"Wh-what?" Harry almost choked as he stared nervously at the reporter, "What did you say?"

"I said, what kind of boys do you like Mr. Harry Potter?" The reporter calmly replied.

In the magical world, homosexuality and bisexuality were both very common, but it was a bit much to ask about his preferences in his own gender right after asking his preferences in the opposite gender. If Voldemort hadn't expressed his disapproval when the female reporter first asked the question, Harry might have thought that she had been sent by Voldemort to ask these questions. But the knowledge of this fact did not lessen any of his rage at Voldemort, because the man had already clearly indicated with his eyes that Harry must answer this question before Voldemort would allow the press conference to end.

Git!

"… I like boys who are… intelligent, strong, dedicated… and evil." In the end Harry still decided to add the final description.

"Evil?" As though suddenly realizing something, the reporter's face grew red and embarrassed.

Lady, just what are you thinking? Harry wanted to glare at Voldemort again, he shrugged as he said, "Oh Miss, you understand what I mean. An assertive bad boy is always especially attractive, don't you think?" Harry let out an evil smirk, the signature expression of most Slytherins.

The reporter stood stunned, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to find something to say.

As the reporter finally sat, the press conference was brought to a close.

Voldemort was very satisfied as he ate breakfast, Harry's angry expression only served to make him see how beautiful the world was. He had originally intended to punish the female reporter, but it was good that she was prudent enough to ask those questions that he was dying to learn the answers to, not only was he not going to punish her now, he might even have to reward her. After all, his little Harry had said that he liked him!

"I only said that I like that kind of boy, I didn't say that I like you!" Harry was angrily cutting at a piece of steak, attacking it as though it was Voldemort.

Voldemort's ears automatically disregarding any of the words he didn't want to hear, "I know you're only feeling shy."

Annoyed, Harry looked around to find something to throw at Voldemort. Food? No, that would mess up his clothes. Cutlery? No, that was too dangerous. Plates? Don't be silly, they were silver, someone could get hurt if they were hit by one of these. Anyway, it was Voldemort, Harry highly doubted that any of his attempts would succeed. Why is it that the most hateful people were always also the most annoyingly competent ones. This was something that Harry had never and would never understand.

**109.**

The time for Rita Skeeter's exclusive interview was 13:10, this did not leave her much time to work with. Rita still sported tightly wound curls, bejeweled spectacles and trademark, bright red robes, a crocodile skin purse was clutched in her pudgy hands, nails two inches long and painted bright red. As it was lunch time and the interview was to be held in an unoccupied classroom, she had not expected Voldemort's presence. At her first sight of him, her eyes had widened and a noticeably disappointed and frustrated expression had appeared on her face. It was still lunch time, according to her calculations, Voldemort should still be conversing with upper level ministry officials, why had he abandoned that to come with Harry Potter? She had heard that Voldemort was very protective of his nephew but she had not realized that his defenses were this extensive, it appears that today's explosive and eye-dropping expose will have to be cancelled.

Harry was very gratified, Rita's slightly fearful expression told him that this seemingly fearless woman would at least sheath her claws in Voldemort's presence, following on this thought, he instinctively moved his chair closer to Voldemort's.

Taking the situation in stride, Rita's eyes grew lively again and her blonde curls also seemed to glow. Doing her best to smile genially to indicate her harmlessness, at least so that Voldemort would stop staring at her like a snake would stare at a frog, Rita asked, "Mr. Voldemort, how do you do? I had not thought that you would be here."

Voldemort leaned lazily into the sofa, crossing his fingers elegantly, bright crimson eyes slightly narrowed like a relaxed and comfortable King Cobra. "I am well Ms. Skeeter. As Harry is still underage, I had sufficient reason to feel that I should be present during the interview."

Rita smiled ingratiatingly, "Of course, of course. Some writers love to make up scandals to pander to the public, impugning the innocence of those interviewed, it is something that I despise and detest."

Feigning calm, she adjusted her glasses, but Harry noticed that her hand was shaking slightly. Seeing this, he felt even happier, surely Rita will not be able to pull any tricks this time.

"Please sit Ms. Skeeter. Our time is short." Voldemort lifted his hand in welcome.

Finally receiving an invitation, Rita quickly sat in the chair opposite Harry's, as though afraid that Voldemort would take back his offer. It was only then that she was able to shift her attention back to the object of her interview, Harry Potter. Stretching out her hand, she said, "Mr. Harry Potter, good afternoon, I am Rita Skeeter from the "Daily Prophet"."

After receiving an unconcerned nod from Voldemort, Harry reached out to shake Rita's pudgy hand with its stub like fingers, taking care not to be scratched by those two inch nails. In truth, Harry did not want to have any kind of contact with Rita Skeeter, no matter how superficial, be it physical or mental, so he did his best to maintain an elegant and sedate façade as he gave Rita's hand a very light and brief shake, quickly drawing his hand back afterwards, not warning it to remain in contact with Rita one second longer than necessary. "Greetings, I am Harry Potter."

Rita also drew her hand back as she mentally wailed in anguish, such slender, pretty hands, if only it was possible, she could write two or three incendiary articles based on those hands alone, she had even thought of the titles already, "Pale, delicate hands, cradling a glimpse of dawning light from out of the darkness" or "Slender fingers, spelling an eternal requiem for goblins and giants". Further more, Harry Potter's obviously guarded attitude would also have been a great source of inflammatory articles, such as "Incredibly talented and noble young man, unwilling to have unnecessary contact with ordinary wizards", or "A thin line between genius and madness, Harry Potter desperate to avoid the latter", all this and so much more, but, but, Voldemort is at Harry Potter's side! This put a stop to all her plans to use the "Reporters' Golden Rule" to protect herself from any future retribution! In the face of Voldemort, no matter how skilled she is at prodding at wizards' fragile nerves, she didn't dare to put her skills in use, there was nothing this demon wouldn't dare to do and she had not the guts to test him.

"Let us begin, Ms. Skeeter." Of the three present, one is a reporter and one the interviewee but it was the bystander, the uncle of the interviewee, who held all the power. This was how Voldemort operated, no matter where or when, if he is present, he must and always will hold the position of power, Dumbledore was the same type of person, that is why the two of them are enemy that can never be reconciled.

**110.**

With Voldemort's permission to proceed with the interview, Rita was vastly relieved, taking out a bright green quill and some parchment from her purse, she laid the parchment on the table beside her then carefully set the quill over the parchment.

Harry stared cautiously at the quill, after all, it had once plagued him for two whole years.

Noticing Harry's caution, Voldemort patted Harry's shoulder in a paternal manner, "Relax Harry, I'm sure Ms. Skeeter will be happy to show us her notes after the interview is over."

Rita almost spluttered, wasn't Voldemort being a little too over-protective, it wasn't like she would dare to do anything underhanded in front of this infamous demon? On the other hand, his nephew seems to be inordinately wary of her, as though he had suffered under her quill in the past. Had she interviewed him before? She had no recollection of such an event?

"Mr. Harry Potter, there is no need to be alarmed. As a reporter of the "Daily Prophet" my professional integrity is something you can depend on. I never exaggerate the truth and I never underplay the facts from personal bias, I always report only the facts of any story, exactly as they are." Rita's smile at Harry oozed sincerity, if an interviewee is guarded the results of an interview are usually less than optimal, it was imperative that she dispel Harry Potter's distrust. Perhaps she had really interviewed this cautious boy before?

Rubbish, was Harry's reaction. Rita's words obviously had little effect on Harry, he was still very guarded.

Seeing that her efforts at reassurance didn't seem to be effective, Rita decided to just go ahead with the interview. The quicker she started the quicker it will be finished, she had no interest in an interview where she would not be able to utilize any of her intelligence and artistic flair.

"Let's begin. Harry, if you will permit me to call you that, can you tell me how you felt the moment you were attacked on the evening of August 15th?"

The interview finished surprisingly quickly, no sensationalist exaggeration of the events or inside information worthy of an expose, Rita's article will end up like a colorless piece of bureaucratic press release, Harry was very satisfied with this. Referring to today's schedule, Harry found that he still had a forty minute rest period so he decided to take a nap, the morning's awards ceremony and the subsequent interview with Rita Skeeter had been very wearing on his nerves and he needed to relax, Voldemort was very much in agreement with this plan.

Rita was quite frustrated as she walked along the corridor, her nails digging into her palms. A chance of a lifetime wasted, countless moving or tantalizing stories killed before they had a chance to see the light of day, it was completely infuriating! The fact that she had no other choice but to abide by this made it all the more frustrating. Would her crown as the queen of wizarding news be taken by that Bulgarian woman? No, it will not happen, she will create a devastating article to ease her frustrations! The problem was, where would she find a source?

As she wracked her brain for ideas she aimlessly walked pass an alcove, her heels clicking pass a pair of lovers. As she caught sight of the lovers' faces out of the corner of her eye, she immediately froze.

"I like strong, independent, upright, mature girls, especially if they have curly red hair." The angelic, black haired boy had solemnly and gravely said.

"Uh, my dears, may I trouble you for an interview? I am Rita Skeeter of the "Daily Prophet"." Rita turned to smile pleasantly at the two students. Hogwarts had rules governing such events stating that reporters are not allowed to interview students, obviously fearing that the students might be duped by unscrupulous reporters. But she was Rita Skeeter of the "Daily Prophet", News queen of wizarding Great Britain, if there was something she wanted, not even that old maniac Dumbledore would be able to stop her!

The lovers glanced at each other then the girl hesitantly replied, "Students are not allowed to accept interviews."

Rita was quite smug as she replied, "That is only for foreign reporters, I'm an English reporter! Don't you want to talk to our English readers about Harry Potter? To say what's in your hearts? I'm a professional and I never twist the truth, you can trust me completely."

**111.**

The doors to Hogwarts Castle opened promptly at 14:00, the people milling around outside the doors pushed down their impatience to proceed inside in a decorous manner, they were then directed, by the professors acting as hosts, to several hundred designated rooms for a rest. Not long after that, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, Madame Maxime and the Headmaster of Durmstrang, Igor Karkaroff both arrived with their best students. They did not arrive with all the fanfare that Harry recalled from the Tri-wizard Tournament as they were not the "stars" of today's event, today the spotlight was on a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Mr. Harry Potter. But the heads of the two other magical school did not come to Hogwarts just to congratulate Dumbledore for having a very outstanding student, instead their other important task was to spend an afternoon out of their hectic schedule to talk with Dumbledore, and determine whether the stubborn old madman had lost his wits or his courage due the surprise attack during the summer holidays, if so, the two would be overjoyed. The two heads were welcomed by Dumbledore himself, it was the first time the students of Hogwarts had seen a woman of such impressive stature as Madame Maxime, fortunately her features were very comely and her proportions very pleasing, she was also dressed very elegantly and splendidly. It had to be said that Hagrid fell in love twenty years earlier than he did in Harry's past.

After another period of time, a large cart, escorted by a crowd of Aurors and dozens of proud sculptors, slowly rolled onto the school grounds, attracting everyone's eyes as the students became even more excited. There was no doubt that the cart was transporting the combined effort of dozens of master sculptors. The statue, wrapped in dark red velvet, was five meters high, the Aurors and Sculptors carefully levitated the statue off the cart and onto the ground and with the assistance of eager student volunteers, it was place securely on the stage directly in front of Hogwarts Castle. A backdrop showing Hogwarts crest was unrolled and all the preparations were then complete.

At around 14:25 Voldemort gently woke Harry from his nap and they proceeded to the event venue after straightening their appearances.

Many wizards crowded around the area on either side of the red carpet leading up to the statue, fervently conversing in lowered voices. Voldemort and Harry stood on the left side of the carpet, Frank Malfoy and Igor Karkaroff stood beside them while Dumbledore smiled at them from the opposite side of the carpet, Barty Crouch and Madame Maxime were standing beside him.

As the clock pointed at 14:30, the unveiling ceremony officially began.

First Charles Peron made a speech, then it was Dumbledore's turn, followed by Voldemort and ending with a speech by Harry. The speech Voldemort prepared for Harry was very astute and perfect and by the time Harry had finish he emotional rendition, tears could be seen in some of the witches' eyes. After all the speeches were finished, it was time for the unveiling. Charles Peron, Dumbledore, Voldemort and Harry pulled the red velvet off together and the crowd was plunged into silence after the covering fell away from the statue.

The statue was made out of gold and it was styled after one of the two initial photos used by the newspapers. Harry's expression was calm and steady with a hint of ruthlessness in his eyes, his right hand was lifted and the tip of his wand shone with a green light. On the golden base, the same words were inscribed in various languages: "Kindness to one's enemies is tantamount to cruelty one's self".

The statue was exceedingly lifelike, unwittingly bringing up memories of that night in the minds of many of the attendees, the screaming, the blood, the slaughter, as well as the quickly created and reassuringly safe shelter provided to them by an underage wizard who should have still been enjoying the protection of an adult wizard, they were evermore grateful for Harry's actions on that night.

At the end of the ceremony Harry gave a closing speech to express his gratitude for those hard working sculptors, thanking them for creating such a masterful piece of work, and also thanking them for the compliment they had paid Harry with their efforts.

After the ceremony, there was a period of rest prior to the evening banquet, but this time Voldemort was unable to accompany Harry in his rest, he did not tell Harry what he would actually be doing, but he intimated that he would be meeting with all the upper level ministry officials and the heads of the three school over a matter of vital importance, and that he would return prior to the evening banquet. Ten minutes before the banquet was due to began, Voldemort returned, with a satisfied yet exhilarated smile on his face. Harry was not interested in the reason for Voldemort's smile as all his attention was dedicated to the banquet, he had to get away from Voldemort for ten to fifteen minutes to find out what Miranda had planned. He had easily spotted Jim and Miranda at the unveiling ceremony where they were standing with that Bulgarian reporter, Miranda and the reporter appeared to have quarreled with Jim trying to calm them down.

It seems that not all of Voldemort's lovers agree with Miranda's plan, thought Harry. He on the other hand, was more worried that Miranda would give up on her plan, after all, the one hour rest period would have been a good opportunity for her to approach Harry, he had actually been anticipating her visit but she had not come. Perhaps she did not realize that Voldemort had left during this time, at least, that was what Harry hoped to be the case.

**112.**

As a high society event, the goal of the banquet was not to eat, instead it was to garner support from your allies, approval from your superiors or intelligence from your enemies or rivals, it was also an opportunity to talk about more serious matters in a more light-hearted atmosphere.

Voldemort introduced many people to Harry, Death Eaters, members of the Order of the Phoenix, as well as some neutrals. They were all prominent members of the wizarding community but Voldemort's tone was arrogant as usual and dismissive as he spoke of them, "Remember their names if you can, but don't worry if you forget them, none of them are worthy of your attention anyway."

"Miranda, give up, doing this will not be of any benefit." In a corner the Bulgarian reporter, Paula, was desperately trying to persuade Miranda to give up her plan while Jim stood beside them with a glass of golden brandy in his hand, he was staring intently at the ring of blue flame at the rim of the glass.

"Oh, will you stop it? I've already gone so far, there's no way I can turn back now. I really don't understand what you two are thinking, don't you despise Harry Potter too?" Miranda was agitated as she swallowed a mouthful of wine, wanting nothing more than to pour the wine over Paula's head to see if that would wake her up.

Paula slowly lowered her eyes in an effort to disguise the trace of bitterness within, although they were all aware of each others' misery after the appearance of Harry Potter, no one wanted to bring it out into the open. "I have no right to despise him. Officially, he is our master's only blood relative, his only heir and our future master, unofficially, he is our master's only love and he has our master's heart. Officially, I am our master's servant and unofficially, I am his past bed mate, no matter how I look at it, I cannot compare with young master Harry. I gave up a long time ago."

Miranda gave a derisive snort, "You're just weak and you lack insight! The only reason our master is so good to Harry Potter is the same reason he had us, because we were stand-ins for "that person"! It's just that Harry Potter resembles "that person" more than we do. It's nothing! I just bet that if someone more like "that person" than Harry Potter were to appear, Harry Potter would immediately become worthless."

Jim was not looking at Miranda as she spoke, he was still looking into the glass in his hand despite the flames having long since died away. "That's only your personal speculation. Perhaps there is no other person who resembles "that person" more than young master Harry." He smiled coldly, "At least, up until now, none have existed. Under these circumstances, recklessly challenging Master Voldemort's authority is, in my opinion, the height of folly."

Paula nodded her head strongly in agreement and support of Jim's words. "Miranda, you know how serious it could be to go against our master's edicts, the offender will receive the dementor's kiss! I would rather die at Azkaban than be kissed by a disgusting dementor, and that's not even taking into consideration the other dire consequences of the kiss!"

Miranda threw a contemptuous look at Paula, "Exactly, you are weak. If it could drive Harry Potter from our master's side, I would be completely willing to risk a dementor's kiss! Jim, keep an eye on her!" She snorted again in annoyance, then strutted away from this unpleasant little gathering.

Paula wanted to go after her but Jim pulled her back, quietly, he said, "Don't bother, it's no use. You should know who sent her to do this, she has always been very obedient to that one."

"But what are we supposed to do now? We can't just watch her execute her plan? If she succeeds in driving young master Harry away, things will not turn out well for us. I'm not so stupid as Miranda, to believe that master Voldemort will just go back to the way he was before if young master Harry were to leave." Paula frowned deeply, "How about, it we went to master Voldemort and told him what Miranda intends to do?" She hesitantly lifted her head to look questioningly at Jim.

Jim snorted in amusement. "Without proof? If Miranda turned around and accused us of trying to frame her, or even to say that it was us planning to drive young master Harry away instead… you and I were not master Voldemort's favorite before all this."

"So what should we do?" Paula clenched her hand around her glass, looking as though she was about to cry.

Jim narrowed his eyes and harshly replied, "Don't play the fool with me, you know what I mean!"


	13. Chapters 113 to 121

**113.**

At Jim's reprimand, instead of getting angry, Paula rolled her eyes and smirked, "So at the moment Miranda is executing her plan, you and I will go to Master Voldemort and inform him of what she is doing?"

"Yes, if we do that, she will be caught in the act by master Voldemort and young master Harry will not be able to leave with the master on the lookout."

"Our master will also protect us until he has punished Miranda and everyone responsible for putting her on this path."

"Master will punish us too, but after everything has been satisfactorily resolved, he will reward us." Jim's green eyes glittered.

The two smirked at each other, no further words necessary. However…

"Jim, are you sure you want to turn your sister in?" Paula feigned nonchalance as she stared steadily into Jim's eyes. If she could she would have used legilimency.

Jim finished his drink in one gulp then placed his glass on a nearby table, picking up another, full, glass straight away, his smile was faint and his eyes hazy as he replied. "There's nothing else to be done, if Miranda should succeed, things would definitely become worse for all of us rather than better. Even if I will be hurting my only sister with my actions, I will be able to prevent master Voldemort's foreseeable wrath from impacting my family. We cannot let my sister's delusions cause the destruction of the entire family." At this, he gave out a lengthy sigh, "My sister… has been unhinged by her jealousy, with others urging her on and influencing her for their own purposes, she has stupidly come up with this plan. No matter how much I tried to talk her out of this, she wouldn't listen to me. Women are always such emotional creatures." It is a shame that his sister, who had always been so shrewd, could become so blind at times like these, hadn't she considered what master Voldemort would do to her? The master had made such harsh decrees regarding anyone even disturbing young master Harry, what would he do to someone who had actually dared to hurt the one that holds the most important position in his heart? Even if Voldemort were to forget Harry after he left, and go back to his myriad bed mates, he would still not turn to the woman who drove Harry away. But his beautiful and cunning sister had neglected to consider this possibility. No matter, as long as the Bell family survives this incident intact, he will have his revenge on those who had pulled his sister into this!

Harry feigned interest in Voldemort's shady dealings with one of the upper level ministry officials, but his eyes darted around looking for that sultry figure. When he saw her leave that little group of black haired, green eyed people, he knew it was time for him to act.

He had once asked himself, what if, just if, Miranda could prove that Voldemort had betrayed to him, what would he do then? He loathed betrayal, his parents had been murdered because someone betrayed them and in the war against Voldemort, countless comrades had died at the hands of traitors. When faced with traitors, his only response was to kill them. But what if it was Voldemort who had lied to him, betrayed him?

Would he be able to point his wand at that man and utter the killing curse?

Harry didn't know.

Because of this doubt he had never dared to consider this topic again, he was afraid, afraid that he would choose the coward's way out by living with the betrayal and by lying to himself.

No matter what Miranda tells him, he had already decided that he would give Voldemort the chance to explain, that man would not deign to lie to him, instead…

He looked at Voldemort whose head lowered towards Harry after the end of his conversation with the ministry official, "Are you tired? Would you like to rest a while?"

"I'd like to go get a breath of fresh air, you go on." Harry smiled as his eyes filled with tenderness and joy, "Voldy, you look incredible!"

Hearing such praise from his lover for the first time, even Voldemort couldn't help but blush a little, "It's cold outside, put on your cloak." After carefully glancing around, he added in a whisper, "Harry, you look much better than me, my angel." If they were anywhere but here, he would have pulled Harry into his arms and kissed him senseless.

Walking to the doors of the hall and retrieving his cloak from the servers, Harry left his warm surroundings. Spotting him, Miranda quickly put her glass on a table and followed him out. Jim and Paula exchanged a look then Paula left unobtrusively.

Jim caressed the intricate watch in his pocket, just five more minutes…

**114.**

Harry walked out quite briskly but slowed down after two quick turns, after confirming that there was no one else around, he turned and called out, "Miss Miranda, fancy meeting you here, was there something you wanted?"

Miranda stopped ten paces away from Harry and started playing with her hair, "Oh, young master Harry, what a coincidence. I just came out for some air, it's much too stuffy inside the hall."

Harry's smile was radiant as a flower, "Oh? My mistake then, I thought you were following me."

Miranda's soft, pale hand stuttered in its movements, then she laughed and responded calmly, "Young master, surely you jest, I would never dare to…"

Harry impatiently cut off her words, he didn't have too much time, Voldemort could be here any minute. "Let's get to the point, what do you want?"

Miranda was a little flustered that her plans had been seen through so easily, originally she had intended to hit Harry with her information while he was unprepared to maximize the impact, she never thought that Harry would uncover her plans. But no matter, even if he knew, even if he was prepared, her evidence was solid. Thinking of this, her eyes shone with malevolence.

"Mr. Harry Potter, I came to speak with you about something."

Watching as Miranda approached him, Harry calmly said, "You should address me as young master Harry, Miranda." In truth he did not care either way about the honorific, but from Miranda's deliberate avoidance of it, Harry could tell that she cared and so he said this to unbalance her, after all, someone agitated would be more likely to let things slip.

"Young master Harry?" Miranda gazed at Harry in contempt, "What kind of master are you? Are you master Voldemort's son? His nephew? A relative of his direct bloodline or any of the offshoots? No, you are nothing, there is only one living descendant of the bloodline of the mighty Salazar Slytherin and that is master Voldemort. You're just some brat who came out of nowhere, with no history of blood or inheritance, you think that just because you have a tiny bit of power inherited through an obscure and distant connection to Salazar Slytherin, that you could be worthy of becoming master Voldemort's heir? To rule over countless purebloods? You have no idea what you are getting into!" She pointed her finger rudely straight at Harry's nose, nails as red as blood. Harry frowned, he didn't like people pointing their fingers at him, it was quite lacking in manners. Miranda lowered her voice and her tone grew more sinister, those green eyes seeming to be covered in a thin layer of blood red mist, "I will tell you, little boy, listen well, the only reason master Voldemort made you his successor, is because you resemble someone!"

"Resemble someone? Wh-who?" Harry impatiently asked, a hint of doubt appearing in his serene eyes. There was a shadow of an answer already in his mind, but he still needed confirmation from Miranda, did she mean "that person"? The one that Voldemort has been searching for over the last couple of decades?

Miranda snorted smugly, ""Who" you ask. Someone that you will never be! Even if you look almost the same as him, even if you know Parseltongue, you are not him, you will never be him!" Her smile was cruel and vicious, "You are just a replacement, a replacement for "that person", just like me, and Jim, and Paula, we are all replacements!"

"Jim? He… he and you…" Harry was stuttering as he wrung his hands, the very image of a startled little deer.

Miranda continued to laugh maliciously, "You've met Jim right? Weren't you curious why he looks so much like you, black, curly hair, green eyes, a sharp chin, I am the same, black hair, green eyes, sharp chin, slender figure, the same as Paula, that Bulgarian reporter." She raised her brow, "You should remember her, her questions to you were quite disconcerting correct?" Harry nodded, his eyes misted with moisture. "She is the same, black hair, green eyes, she looks like you too."

"I thought… I thought that it was just a coincidence…" Harry lowered his head and sniffed, as though he were about to cry.

Miranda laughed even harder at this, "A coincidence? One or two might be coincidences, but three or four? Five or ten? Would they all be coincidences? Every one, every single one of them, or us, are replacements and stand ins, you included!"

"It's not possible, it couldn't be..." Harry staggered back as he shook his head.

**115.**

Miranda was enjoying the sight of Harry's apparent distress. She had despised this lucky brat from the beginning and now she could finally take him down a peg or ten. Pulling out a roll of parchment, she threw it at Harry, "Forget your unrealistic fantasies brat!"

Harry awkwardly caught the parchment and unrolled it with shaking fingers, immediately freezing at what he found inside. It was a portrait of a man, approximately in his mid-twenties, curly black hair flying every which way, green eyes showing fatigue and weariness that couldn't be disguised, he was not tall nor particularly well built, but he had an air of indefatigable strength and conviction, even though he looked like he might fall over from exhaustion at any moment.

Those eyes, that figure, that attitude- they were all so familiar!

Harry had seen this man countless times in the mirror, he was a representative of a now non-existent time, a past that he didn't want to look back on, and an utter defeat that he hadn't been able to prevent. Now, all this was in the past and as dust and ashes, perhaps, in the coming future, Harry Potter will no longer need to be crowned "the Savior" and be forced sacrifice everything he has, including his life, to a cause that was never his own.

That- might be pretty good, Harry thought.

"Th-this?" He exclaimed incredulously, raising the parchment so that it blocked his face from her view.

Miranda felt vindicated, the man on the parchment looked like her. Even though they were all replacements and none of them were any better than the others, Harry Potter had been granted too much, so much that it enraged others, including her, his pain will now become her joy. "He is the one master Voldemort truly loves. Master has been searching everywhere for him but could never find him, in his despair, he found lovers in those who resemble this man, to ease his hollow and empty heart, the more they resemble him, the more he lavishes his attention on them. So, you who resemble him so much and can speak Parseltongue, have become our master's favorite and been made his heir. But in truth you are no different from all of us, you are just a fake, you're just a better fake." She giggled as she finished.

Really, what could he say to this, Harry didn't know if he should laugh or cry, if he didn't have the parchment keep his face hidden, he was sure that Miranda would be able to see his strange expression. He had been so worried, but it turns out to be a complete waste of time. He had thought that Miranda's evidence was… after all, Voldemort having loved someone in the past didn't mean that he didn't love Harry now. It was most strange to find out that the one Voldemort had loved was him, how ridiculous could things get!

"So wake up, you and I are both toys to while away the boredom, you may have it all now, but when an even better fake appears, you will be thrown away, he won't even look at you again." Miranda continued to attack Harry.

"It's not possible!" Harry finally lifted his head and wildly waved his arms, "Voldy said… he said that he loves me, he would never lie to me!"

For a moment, Miranda's face twisted grotesquely, but she recovered quickly and retorted, "The master said he loved me too, so what? He wasn't saying those words to the replacement but to the original. If you believed those words, you are an idiot."

"I do not remember saying such words to you."

Smooth despite the amount of rage contained within, a pleasant baritone interrupted their conversation, leeching all color out of Miranda's face with fear as her body shook. She desperately tried to prevent herself from sliding to the floor in a boneless faint as she turned around. Voldemort was glaring at her in rage, blood red eyes foretelling her painful demise.

"Jim, take care of this, I want her alive until I can come to personally interrogate her." Voldemort bit out between his clenched jaw, no matter who is was, no matter how competent they were, if someone hurt Harry he would make sure that person suffered a fate worse than death!

"Yes honored master." Jim waved his wand and knocked Miranda out, two Death Eaters stepping forward from behind Jim to carry her away.

After dealing with Miranda, Voldemort quickly looked towards Harry, he wanted to rush to the boy and shout his explanations, "Listen to me, that woman was lying to you", he also wanted to take the boy into his arms and embrace him, hard, to demonstrate his feelings via his actions, however, he was afraid that the boy would cover his ears or push him away, reject him. After all, why shouldn't he? Harry was still staring at the portrait, his eyes filled with immense pain and sorrow.

Voldemort lifted his hands to clasp Harry's slender shoulders after hesitating for a while, his husky voice showing a hint of tears and panic, "Please let me explain Harry, please give me a chance, please!"

Harry lowered his head and haphazardly wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, "Alright, I'll listen."

As Harry lowered his arm, Voldemort could see that the snowy wool was drenched with tears.

Damnit, that bubotuber pus was working too well…

**116.**

A fire crackled in the living room of Voldemort's quarters, making it seem more warm and comfortable, but Voldemort was in no mood to appreciate the atmosphere, he felt as though he was standing in a field of ice, no hint of warmth around him. Harry sat opposite him, beautiful eyes swollen like a walnut from his tears, delicate little face slight wrinkled from being constantly bathed in tears. From the time he had seen Harry right up until now, he had been silently crying, his tears drenching handkerchief after handkerchief, stubbornly not letting Voldemort near, not even willing to lift his head and look at Voldemort, even in hatred.

Perhaps he is disappointed, Voldemort thought sadly. His boy had been enjoying the dedicated caring and indulgence of family but was suddenly and cruelly told that it was all a lie, that it was only a façade, manufactured by the one closest to him for the sole purpose of deceiving him, he must be feeling like his entire world had turned upside down, the pain of betrayal must be hurting him so badly that he could only helplessly shed tears of heartbreak, wordlessly expressing his pain at the deception.

But Merlin, Voldemort truly did not try to deceive Harry, at least not emotionally, he truly does love Harry and everything he did for his beloved was done from the bottom of his heart and with complete sincerity. He has to explain, to make it clear, he cannot let his untainted, innocent Harry be deceived by that worthless, devious woman, he would not have Harry hurt or consider leaving him out of disappointment.

What Harry meant to him could not be encompassed by a simple word like "lover", from meeting Harry at age six and being embraced by him, Voldemort had lost his heart. That warm embrace, those tender, meaningful words, even after he had become an adult, only Harry had ever given him this feeling of family, of a blood relative, that heartwarming affection, only Harry had ever given this to him. Such a battle-worn warrior that still possessed a heart as clear as crystal, still generous and tender, faced with a weak child as he was, that person could have wiped out his existence with a single stream of green light, if he had killed the young Voldemort, there would not have been war, the sorrow and mercy in Harry's eyes had been heartbreaking. As time passed and he grew older, the impact Harry's embrace had on him become deeper and more important. His path continued to get harder as he danced on the edge of the blade of life, without guidance or support, with everyone around him coldly watching and judging him, he was followed if he succeeded, and thrown into hell if he failed, he had nothing but himself. The freezing cold made it hard for him to survive, his only solace was Harry's embrace and Harry's insightful words, though brief, it was the only warmth in his life and it was the only thing he truly owned, that belonged solely to him, and, that could never be taken away no matter what position or power he attained, this warmth would always stay with him, to let him know that even if the entire world turned away, at least Harry would still be willing to look him in the eyes.

Without that long ago Harry, there would be no Voldemort of today.

He could not imagine what Harry returned to with his time-turner when he went back to that future war ravaged world, no matter what time or world, the existence of a traitor would not be tolerated. Harry's organization must have lost many lives for Harry to want to return to the past to kill him, and so, Harry's betrayal must have earned him the ire of every member of his side and his treatment at their hand must have been beyond words. Executions of traitors were always the cruelest and most vicious. Countless times, he had woken from a nightmare of a tortured, bloody, and broken Harry standing in front of him, watching him with those still warm and tender eyes, just before him fell to the ground, no longer breathing, with Voldemort not being able to do anything but watch, just watch as the most important person in his life faded away in death.

He wanted to be strong, to be stronger than anyone else and to hold the entire world in the palm of his hand, so that everyone trembled before him, if he was able to do that, then rebel groups might not exist and Harry would not then be punished, more than that, he wanted to find Harry before he grew up, so that he could care for and indulge this child with everything he had and was, to give the child the same caring that he received from the child's future, adult self. He wanted to give everything to Harry, to that person in the deepest part of his heart.

**117.**

That is not to say that he only loves that Harry who had experienced so much, he loves this understated, old-beyond-his-years and astute Harry just as much. A Harry whose childhood was almost a mirror to his own, Harry's birth was clearly suspicious, no one knew where he came from or where he learned all his intriguing abilities, this in itself was both dangerous and suspicious, but Harry was Harry, he possessed a unique and eternal goodness, along the way, he had witnessed the changes in Harry as those cold and impassive eyes started to fill with light and warmth, his active resistance and distancing had turned into unconsciously sweet and tender words and actions, there was nothing else in this world that could move Voldemort's heart like his Harry. He didn't want to know why or to look for any facts or clues, he only needed Harry at his side, to see pristine, innocent Harry stained with his colors, Voldemort would give all he had for this.

But that woman- Miranda and the one behind her actions, as well as those scheming others behind this plan, along with those who knew what was happening and chose to pretend they knew nothing- Voldemort's eyes glowed with a cold crimson light. Don't tickle a sleeping dragon, or its wrath might destroy the world. Touching Harry Potter was akin to tickling the sleeping dragon that was Voldemort, he would not permit for anyone to hurt Harry Potter, even himself. Once Harry forgives him and accepts him again, he will have to look to his Death Eaters, confirming who should be allow to stay, who should be let go and, who should die, no other with ulterior or harmful intentions will be allowed to approach Harry, with his first foray into love, Harry needs a complete and flawless love that will last a lifetime, he cannot allow those jealous or malicious people to ruin this. Their love was so delicate it was like fragile glass, he had to protect it with everything he was and had.

Nagini slithered silently into the room with the parchment roll held between her jaws, she dropped the parchment in Voldemort's lap then slithered over to Harry, laying her head affectionately on Harry's lap, amber eyes shining with gently, [_Darling, don't be sad, that woman was lying to you. I swear, Voldy really loves you._]

Harry said nothing as the softly hugged Nagini's head, sobs staying in his throat before being swallowed back.

Voldemort unrolled the parchment and handed it to Harry with no hesitation, "I don't know the details of what that woman told you Harry, but I can imagine as she gave you this portrait. But, please believe me Harry, I love you. I will tell you everything about me and this person, completely and without withholding any details, but I must first tell you that I truly, sincerely, love you."

Harry silently took the portrait, struggling to open his tear-swollen eyes, so annoyed he wanted to scream. He had wanted to cry some to play up the scene and to punish Voldemort for being so promiscuous, but he had not wanted to cry non-stop and look a complete fright, he had certainly paid heavily for what he gained from this little encounter. He didn't dare look into a mirror to peak at what his face looked like, much less look Voldemort in the eyes, he was just so embarrassed!

The parchment, though old, was well preserved, on it was the image of the same man that Miranda had shown him, more accurately, the portrait Miranda had shown him was a copy of this parchment. It was Harry at twenty-six year of age, even without that trademark lightning bolt scar, Harry still knew that the portrait was of him.

Harry still remembered his meeting with Voldemort when he was twenty-six, he had been Tom Marvolo Riddle then, and he was a lonely, ostracized child living in an orphanage.

Did this mean that Voldemort had fallen in love with him from that single meeting?

If the answer was yes, then, does this mean that Voldemort had loved him for decades?

Harry lowered his head, feeling a little happy, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that he was feeling overjoyed.

**118.**

"I met him when I was six." Voldemort began quietly, there was no need to clearly state who the "him" was, they both understood.

"He was a powerful wizard who knew Parseltongue. He showed me the might of magic and told me that I was not a freak, just a normal, young wizard who did not yet know how to control his power. He… gave me warmth and a tender hug that made my heart ache, it was the first hug I ever remembered receiving, the only one I had ever received. The matrons at the orphanage found me strange and ostracized me, no one was willing to come near me." His eyes darkened as he looked out the window at the darkening night sky. He didn't like remembering those hated times, that orphanage full of those, old and young, who despised him. The only light in those times was he meeting with Harry, but he would be a fool if he indulged in reminiscence in this situation. "I was still a child then, only feeling warmth, a closeness and gratitude, but as I grew older and understood more, I found that I had fallen in love with him. Perhaps because of…" He waved his hand, "you understand the feeling."

He looked at Harry, the boy's expressionless face made him feel apprehensive and he hesitated over whether he should go on. If his didn't go into enough details, Harry might not believe him, but if he said too much, Harry might run away and never wish to see him again, it was not easy for him to judge where he should stop.

Harry waited for a moment, but seeing that the man was not about to continue, he secretly rolled his eyes then said in a teary voice, "Then you could just go find him, there was no need to use substitutes…"

Voldemort grew more despondent, he had tried and he had only just found him a year ago. "I couldn't find him, no matter how great my power grew, no matter how far I could reach, I could find no sign of him. I though, that he- did not exist anymore." After this statement, he felt especially guilty.

"So you found many others that looked like him to be substitutes?" Harry asked sadly.

"…Yes…" Voldemort admitted unwillingly, Harry's face immediately turned as black as ink, but Voldemort could only grit his teeth and bear it, it was after all what he deserved for his actions.

"It didn't seem to be working, otherwise you would never have turned to me." Harry bent and wrapped his arms tightly around Nagini, blinking his dry eyes and wondering whether he should utilize his sleeve again.

"No, Harry, you and they…" Voldemort couldn't help interrupting, hoping to explain, Harry's attitude gave him a bad feeling. But Harry did not give him the opportunity to explain.

"Let me finish!" Harry roared like a tiny lion, trying to make himself appear enraged. He was grateful for Voldemort's enduring love, no matter which Harry it was directed at, he also firmly believes that Voldemort truly is madly in love with him, but some things had to be done. He cannot allow those men and women to remain at Voldemort side, nor can they be allowed to appear within his sight, he couldn't take it, Voldemort's attitude of accepting cheap imitations has to be eliminated!

"I must be the closest one. Black hair, green eyes, a Parselmouth, apart from the scar on my forehead I am almost exactly like him." Harry brushed his hair away to reveal his scar, the hair stylist had deliberately given him a longer fringe to cover the scar. "When you look at me, is it like seeing him? When you speak to me, are you speaking through me to him? You…" He stopped as though he couldn't bear to continue, raising his arm to block his eyes.

It stings…

Voldemort could not sit still any longer, he knows that if he allows Harry to continue in this vein, his and Harry's future might travel down a tragic path without return. He went to sit by Harry's side, then painstakingly pulled down Harry's arm, finding the expected streams of tears and the sadness and helplessness, as though the world had abandoned this boy.

"I know, that you aren't… pleased… with me, that you and I have too many differences, but… you have never lied to me… I would rather you lie to me…" That tiny voice was so unassuming, Voldemort's heart twisted in pain. "I would rather you lied to me… why didn't you even make the effort to lie to me…"

"Harry…" Seeing those streaming tears, Voldemort's heart ached so much he could not say a word, only able to tightly hold Harry, hold this person that he wanted to protect with his life, clumsily and incoherently, he repeated his words of love, "I love you, truly… I like you just the way you are, you're adorable… I love him, it's true, but I love you too… not because you look like him, no, you are you… every word I have ever told you is true… trust me…"

**119.**

"I love you, I love everything you are. Even your protectiveness for the muggles, your loathing for Death Eaters, your disagreement with my actions. I have never confused you with him." Because you're the same person, Voldemort thought. "I have never thought of you as a replacement for him, you and he hold the same place in my heart. Don't equate yourself with those unworthy playthings, that is an insult to you and an insult to me. Your kindness, calm and strength made me fall deeply in love with you. I swear that I will always love you and that I will be forever be by your side."

Nagini had long since moved away to give Voldemort room so that he could tenderly pat Harry's back until he had regained his breath from his sobbing. At the same time, he carefully chose his words to get across his meaning, afraid that the slightest of mistakes would cause Harry to resume crying. In the year or so that he had known Harry he had never seen him this vulnerable, Harry's fragility and hurt made him feel incredibly guilty. He couldn't help berating himself for his own naivety, wasn't he intimately aware of how innocent and inexperienced Harry was? Despite his magical strength, he was still only an underage boy and Voldemort's people were all devious, experienced strategists who had been raised on intrigue, how could he have been careless enough to allow such people to appear before Harry? Perhaps he had been overwhelmed by Harry's mature behavior, somehow seeing Harry as his equal in all things, forgetting that at Harry's age, even if he had experienced love, it would only be a school yard crush that would never have revealed the darker side of love. If it hadn't been for Jim and Paula bringing this matter to his attention behind Miranda's back, so that he could be in time to prevent anything worse from happening, who knows what might have happened. If he does not crush any further delusions of those people, these things would keep happening. Next time he might not be as fortunate as to be tipped off beforehand. The reasons Miranda failed this time were that Miranda herself was a disposable pawn and that the people behind this scheme did not deign to use too elaborate and intense an approach with Harry, who was still just a child. From the results, to someone as untouched by love as Harry, even this incident was enough to make him fear Voldemort and perhaps even leave. Even should Harry gain some experience from this incident, there's no telling what other complex schemes those people would think up next to deceive him. No matter how much Harry trusted him, it might not be enough to withstand repeated assaults and attempts to sow distrust, this is especially disturbing considering that Harry is already uncomfortable with their differing ideals. It appears that it was not enough to just warn away and discourage those people, perhaps… it would be better to completely distance himself from them. Seeing as how he has no intention of having anything further to do with them, it would be better to take this opportunity to cut all ties.

Harry lifted his face timidly, his delicate face all scrunched up from crying, he viciously vowed to himself never to use something as potent as bubotuber puss again. Of course, crying to gain sympathy would likely only work this once anyway, too many repeats might cause indifference. "You really love me?"

"Of course!" Voldemort was overjoyed that his embarrassing and emotional words finally seemed to have consoled his little Harry.

Harry smiled and despite the fact that it did not exactly look wonderful in his current condition, Voldemort found that smile indescribably beautiful.

"I'm glad, even if you're only lying to me, I'm glad."

"You can use legilimency to confirm it, then you'll know that I'm definitely not lying to you!" Voldemort was both a little angry and little unsure what else he could do.

Harry stared steadily at Voldemort, then after a moment, resolutely shook his head, "I believe you, not matter what you tell me, I'll believe you!"

That means he still doesn't believe me! Voldemort hugged Harry even tighter to him in annoyance, not knowing what to do. "I know that I handled this very badly and that I didn't take the appropriate steps, I'm sorry this hurt you. It's all my fault, I know this, please give me a chance to make things right."

After a while, Harry murmured an agreement. That should be about enough, anymore and Voldemort might start getting angry.

Voldemort didn't dare hope that Harry would believe him right away but as long as Harry chose to start believing him and to stay at his side, he had time to make things right, some things can't be believed until they are actually enforced with actions.

**120.**

When Harry pushed open the door to his dorm, he found that three of his roommates were asleep while Snape was sitting on the edge of his bed reading, though his eyes had immediately turned to Harry when he entered.

"What is it Severus? Why are you still up at this hour?" Harry asked in puzzlement. Wasn't he tired after the long day?

Snape sighed softly, "I was waiting for you Harry."

"Oh?" Harry stopped on his way to the bathroom, instead moving instead to sit next to Snape on the bed, "Waiting for me? What for?"

"Did something happen today?" Snape gave a meaningful look at Harry's eyes, though they were no longer red and swollen, he had still seen tears streaming down that lowered face.

"You… you saw?" Harry blinked.

"I think everyone noticed. Professor Voldemort had left in such a rush, with several people following him. I thought that something had happened to you, so I followed them." Snape's black eyes held not a hint of light, like black holes. "What did that woman say to make you cry?"

Harry was silent as he tapped his fingers on the bed, "Who else saw?"

"Don't worry, I was the only one who dared follow, not even Lucius had the guts to do that."

At Snape's words, Harry shook his head in amusement, "It was nothing, just a little trick." Then he added, "Don't tell Voldy Sev."

Snape nodded. "Then why were you crying? You've never cried before." He obviously had not thought that Harry had faked his crying as his friend had always maintained that tears were a show of weakness.

Harry shook his head ruefully, "It was necessary at the time so please don't tell Voldy, Sev."

At this, Snape finally relaxed. When he saw Harry's tears, he had been enraged, in the six years he and Harry had been friends, he had come to know and understand Harry's accepting and serene nature, for a person as composed as Harry to cry so badly, that woman must have done something truly despicable. He had waited until now to hear about it directly from Harry, so that he could take part in any retribution planned. He was surprised to learn that it was all a part of something Harry had personally planned and executed… no matter, as long as he wasn't the target of these maneuvers he didn't care. That man… Snape felt fortunate that his own love was honest and guileless Remus Lupin.

"Right, how's the improvement of the wolfsbane potion going?" Harry offhandedly asked as he walked towards the bathroom.

Snape frowned a little, "It's seems to be moving in accordance with my projections, however…"

"However?" Harry cocked his head in query.

Thoughts churned in Snape's mind but no clear results presented themselves, suddenly he had the flash of an idea. "It's nothing, I'm just being too sensitive, everything is going well, the issues are not significant and they should soon be resolved."

"Ok." As Snape himself was not entirely certain, given that Harry already had a lot on his plate to worry about, he gave no further thought to this matter. "Sleep Severus, we have classes tomorrow."

"You should get to bed soon as well." Suddenly feeling a lot better, Snape relaxed into his bed.

After a relaxing and fragrant bath, Harry lay on his soft, heavenly bed, thoughts filled with what had happened in Voldemort's quarters.

He had to admit that his actions were not entirely appropriate, nor were they typical of him. He had schemed against Voldemort, deceived Voldy to achieve his own ends, the Harry Potter of the past would never have done such a thing, in the past, he would never have lied to Ron and Hermione for his own benefit. But the Harry Potter of now had done this. Used he own tears to force Voldy into deciding to cut all ties with his past lovers, this was not a pleasant thought for Harry, but he did not regret his actions. Just the thought of those ex-lovers, who looked so much like him, parading around Voldemort filled him with rage, like an animal whose territory had been invaded, he had responded instinctually. Voldy was his and there was no room for anyone else to interfere. And so he had to announce this to everyone, through Voldy own hand, and his own lips, the impact and range of this announcement would be far greater than anything Harry could manage on his own while at the same time, keeping the repercussions to their lowest, there might not even be any repercussions at all if this came from Voldy. He also did not want his own jealousy to adversely affect Voldy's leadership- although perhaps he was thinking too highly of himself in this.

Everything had been planned in advance but the portrait was completely unexpected. Harry could never have predicted that Voldemort had fallen in love with him twice, the impact of this truth had almost made him forget what he was doing at the time. As he could not share his joy at this fact with anyone else, he would have to bury it deep in his heart and rejoice over it alone. All his indecisive thoughts had calmed in a moment and he lost all desire for flight. He could not ask for anything better from Voldemort because what he had given was already the best, so what more did Harry Potter have to hesitate about or fear? What did he have to hide from anymore?

The future was in his own hands.

**121.**

After such an exciting night, Hogwarts returned to its normal peace and quiet the next morning. Harry and Snape left their dorms together, meeting up with the waiting Lucius to proceed to the Great Hall. Breakfast was pleasant as usual and Harry's already high spirits grew even better, even his appetite increasing. Hedwig delivered a copy of the latest "Daily Prophet" then alighted on Harry shoulder, not deigning to leave until Harry had fed her a piece of smoked herring. "You're getting spoilt girl." Harry reproved in faux annoyance, happy to satisfy her desires.

Many of the Hogwarts students subscribe to the "Daily Prophet" and most of their attention is dedicated to the "Sports and Entertainment" pages, usually they would flip right over to these pages when they receive the newspaper and begin to read it excitedly, while simultaneously discussing it heatedly with their friends. But today seemed a little unusual, none of the students reading the "Sports and Entertainment" pages daring to loudly discuss the contents, instead they conferred in whispers as they covertly pointed and gestured, the entire hall was plunged into a strange atmosphere.

Harry paid no attention to the strangeness at first as he was busy examining Rita Skeeter's article on him. After reading the entire piece, he relaxed, Rita had folded under Voldemort's might, not daring to add an extra word nor delete a single letter. Then he began to notice the eerie quiet around him and he started to get a bad feeling, lifting his head, he was shocked to find that he was the focus of attention from the entire Slytherin table. Not the usual admiration or fawning, nor was it respect, instead it was a weird embarrassment, at the same time, some of the students were peering at the staff table, at Voldemort.

Harry raised his brow in bafflement, what was it? He sent a questioning glance at Snape and Snape pointed at his own copy of the "Daily Prophet", "Page 23." He said coldly, eyes filled with a strangeness he couldn't seem to hide.

Voldemort was also reading the "Daily Prophet" but he never perused the "Sports and Entertainment" pages. Reading the obviously controlled and censored articles made him sneer habitually, then try to see through these smokescreens into the things Dumbledore was trying to hide, or to reveal, or to deceive with… flicking a glance at Dumbledore, who was also reading the same paper, Voldemort snorted in derision.

The Divination Professor, Dick Roman, cleared his throat softly to catch Voldemort's attention, "Dear master, please, you should read Page 23, the article… Rita Skeeter's actions have become unbearable!"

"Harry Potter's Secret Heartache" This title had Harry scratching his head and sighing. That woman was once again listening in on conversations as a bug!

Rita's article was not long and as usual it was filled with nonsense. First she established the supposed recipient of Harry's love, saying that although Harry and Ms. Lily Evans was from different, rival houses, Harry was deeply in love with Lily, even though he had been strongly forbidden by his uncle Voldemort from associating with her. Then she said that Harry was still protecting the "beautiful, redheaded Lily Evans" at all times, raising the Patronus at the OWLs and his actions during the Quidditch World Cup as examples. She also tried to convince everyone that Harry was deeply in love with Lily, using Harry own words at the press conference as support, Lily was the only redhead in Hogwarts and Harry had always treated her in a special way. Thirdly, she stated that Lily did not love Harry, that she was in love with James Potter. Fourthly she introduced James, the heir of an ancient, noble and wealthy family with good grades and superior Quidditch skills- having too much in common with Harry, of course she did not say that Lily was using James as a substitute, she only detailed the similarities between Harry and James, complete with photographs. Finally, she pointed the her barbs to Voldemort, chastising him for being so caught up in blood purity dogma that he disregarded his own nephew's feelings, that he was brutal, unfeeling, dictatorial and lacking in humanity as he ruthlessly crushed Harry's first love- so on and so forth, bringing tears to the readers' eyes.

Harry's first reaction was to look up at the staff table, where Voldemort was intently reading the paper, crimson eyes expressionless. Had Voldemort not seen Rita's article yet? Harry narrowed his eyes and looked intently at the paper in Voldemort's hands, confirming that he was in fact, reading that article. Was really he calm or just too enraged to show it? Harry looked again at Voldemort's face to find the other staring back at him, red eyes filling with an unidentifiable emotion, Harry hurriedly lowered his head.

If only he had known, he would never have said what he did about red hair, but if he hadn't said it, he would have felt guilty about Ginny, who had stayed by his side without ever uttering a word of complaint.

This was not good. How am I going to explain this? Harry's head started to ache.


	14. Chapters 122 to 130

A/N: Hi everyone, long time no see, sorry for the break in updates, as my sister in law went on holiday we (my mum and I) have been helping my brother look after my three year old nephew, who had just caught a cold, along with my brother. So I have not had time to work on this too much until now. So she's back and I'm back at work on this and I decided to push right on and get past the half way point before posting, with a total of 266 chapters and several epilogues, this story comes in at less than 280 chapters, so I have finished both chps 122-130 and 131-139 and I am posting them together, I will also likely be able to get the next one out by Sunday. So, Happy Reading!

Dear Liung Arkeanda: Don't worry, I am not at all offended, your comments were very constructive and I was glad to hear from you.

Dear Reviewers: Thank you for all your positive comments, hope you enjoy the coming chapter just as much.

HJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJP HJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJP

**122.**

Harry then turned his gaze towards the Gryffindor table to find that the couple he had personally brought together was arguing in low voices, beside them, Sirius and Remus looked as though they wanted to intervene but didn't know where to start, Peter's tiny, watery eyes were filled with panic. Very soon, students at the other three tables had turned to look at the ever worsening argument at the Gryffindor table, until the hall was so silent one could hear the sound of a pin dropping to the ground.

Luckily Lily had no intention of providing everyone with a free show, after whispering something to a dark-faced James, she stood abruptly, her fiery red hair flowing in a graceful arc as she left the hall without a backward glance. James stared after her, too shocked to move from where he was sitting.

Seeing that things were getting out of hand, Sirius quickly shoved James' shoulder as he growled softly, "Idiot, what are you sitting there for, go after her?"

"But-but…" James frowned deeply as he glared hatefully at the Slytherin table, hesitating over whether he should run after Lily and apologize.

Sirius was so angry he wanted to smack James, "James, you aren't really distrusting Lily are you? This was written by Rita Skeeter, who could believe anything that woman wrote? If there was anything between Lily and Harry Potter, it would only be one-sided on Harry Potter's part!"

That was half the reason for his disgust! Why did Harry like Lily? Why was Harry so steadfast in his feelings? Why muggleborn Lily, instead pureblooded…

A wave of ugly jealousy rapidly spread through James body, eating into his heart and mind like a poison. He was jealous of Harry, because he knows how much Lily admires Harry, but at the same time, he was jealous of Lily, because she had Harry's special regard. His heart was divided into two, jealous of two different people, one of them being his own beloved girlfriend, suddenly realizing all this plunged James into complete confusion and an inability to act.

"James, I don't want to say too much about your relationship with Lily, I just want to tell you that if you don't go after her now, you will definitely lose her!" Remus couldn't keep quiet anymore. James had pursued Lily madly and he could understand how much James didn't want to lose Lily, but was it necessary to create such a fuss over a Slytherin who could never come between them?

Peter nodded his head vigorously in agreement, "Remus is right! James, go after Lily and explain, otherwise you'll lose her!"

Shocked back into coherent thoughts by Remus' words, James rushed out of the hall. Never mind who Harry loved, he had worked so hard to get Lily, he couldn't lose her now, he and Lily were made to be together, Harry Potter was from a different world to him.

Watching James rush out of the hall, Harry felt the worry in his heart lessen, he didn't want the wonderful relationship between his parents to disappear because of a piece of rubbish written by Rita Skeeter. James' glare had been really disturbing! Harry wondered whose conversation Rita had spied on to write such an article, it would be hard for him to argue with its contents. Perhaps the way he treated and interacted with Lily was too easy to misinterpret? He lifted his head and again looked toward the staff table, Voldemort had put down the paper by then, and perhaps feeling Harry's eyes on him, had turned to looked in Harry's direction, those dark red eyes were deep and shadowed and Harry could not decipher the emotions therein.

Harry sighed again, resignedly covering his face with the paper. Look at what was happening now, how was he supposed to act?

James caught up with Lily before she went into the girls' dorms.

"Lily, Lily I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted you, I was being jealous and unreasonable and I was a fool! You can punish me however you like but please don't ignore me! Don't leave me Lily! I'd die without you!"

James' sincere apology, his remorseful words and his damp eyes all showed his solemn repentance. Lily forgave the man she so deeply loves. In truth, Lily found James' jealousy quite reasonable, Harry's words at yesterday's press conference did make it easy for others to speculate, even she had some doubts, so she did not overly blame James and the two were soon as affectionate and loving as before.

**124.**

With all the doubts and unpleasantness dissipated, Lily suddenly said, "James, we must apologize to Harry."

"Apologize?" James' brows were twisted into knots.

Lily was insistent, "Don't forget, if we hadn't accepted an interview from Rita Skeeter, today's article would not have happened, me must account for ourselves to Harry."

Lily's meaning was clear, as courageous Gryffindors, they must own up to their own actions, knowing how much trouble Rita's article would bring Harry, it would be detestable to pretend ignorance, this would not be in line with Gryffindor principles. Given Lily's adamant words, James readily agreed, but he haltingly made a suggestion to Lily, "Lily, I can speak to Harry alone alright? I don't want you to meet with him. In truth, I'm still uncomfortable with his description of the type of girl he likes."

James' words coincided with Lily's own worries, she was also afraid that Harry's words were about her, she wouldn't know how to face Harry in that case, after all, she only saw Harry as her closest friend while James was the one she loved. After a slight hesitation, she agreed with James' plan.

But Lily didn't realize that James' reason was not as simple he stated. He was afraid of Lily meeting with Harry, but not just out of the usual dislike of a man whose lover was meeting with an admirer, it was also because he didn't want to see how Harry might react with joy at seeing Lily, Harry's happy smile should only be for someone more suitable, such as… no matter, it just shouldn't be because of Lily.

Harry was feeling quite despondent as he walked at the rear of the crowd of students, his deliberately slow steps distancing him from them. The same as always, Rita's articles have ensured that all the students are speculating about him, his only solace in this is that at least the Slytherins were not taking this chance to torment him as they did in Harry's memories. Right now, he really wanted to find Rita and torture her, just like Hermione did in his past, to let Rita know that there were some people you shouldn't mess with.

Right as he was in the middle of his vicious thoughts of revenge, James appeared in front of him, polite and gentlemanly, as though he had never been touched by Rita's venomous claws. "Harry, I must apologize to you for something."

And then he proceeded to explain to a completely baffled Harry, finally he knew where Rita's article came from and he had to give a bitter smile. Harry believed that both Lily and James had the best of intentions, at least, James' should have meant well in front of Lily, but who did they think Rita Skeeter was? She would willingly and without a qualm, twist anyone's good intentions with utmost malice, she was also very good at attracting the attention of wizards with scandal, and so, Lily's good intentions were completed perverted.

"So, I'm really sorry to have caused you this much trouble." James' smile was filled with embarrassment. Not only was Harry in trouble, but so were he and Lily, within Hogwarts the situation might still be under control, who knows how much worse the rumors have gotten outside of Hogwarts.

A slender, elegant hand came to rest atop Harry's head, the fingers running through luxuriant black hair, bringing with them a feeling of warmth. Voldemort's handsome face was cold and forbidding as he glared at James from his superior height, "If you recognize your error, you should try to remedy it. If a simple apology was sufficient many of the departments in the Ministry of Magic would not need to exist."

James stilled in for a moment, "But, the "Reporters' Golden Rule"…?"

"That is something for you to handle. You must take responsibility for your own actions." Voldemort cut off James' attempts at deflecting emotionlessly.

James was silently panicking. If he had known that he would run into Voldemort, he would never have come to apologize, at least not today. Now he'd done it, he had been saddled with an impossible task. Rita Skeeter was protected by the "Reporters' Golden Rule", even Voldemort would not be able to touch her, how was he, an underage, not yet graduated wizard, supposed to do anything about her? If the article had yet to be published, he could have used his family's connections to suppress it, but the article was already out there, and it had been owled all over England and possibly already read by every English witch and wizard. What could he do about that?

This is just too much!

**124.**

James reluctantly left and Harry raised his head, words of gratitude on his lips as his eyes were met with Voldemort's highly raised brow and exceptionally fake smile, those words were immediately dismissed. It seems that Voldemort was not interested in hearing them so it would be better for Harry to stay silent.

Harry lowered his head anxiously, looking as uneasy as a child who had broken an expensive vase, trying desperately to get away without punishment by denying he did anything, he look so adorable Voldemort almost laughed. He hurriedly restored his cold and haughty mask, "Harry, you will have lunch with me in my quarters."

Harry's face fell, have lunch with Voldy? In this current furor over Rita's article? He wouldn't be receiving some severe punishment would he? Could he not go? Watching Voldemort's elegantly departing figure, imperial purple robes billowing as he moved, Harry was filled with misery.

The last class of the morning was Potions, contrary to his usual eye-catching excellence, Harry's performance in the class could only be described as abysmal, as though his soul had flown to some other dimension, leaving only his body standing over the cauldron. Snape prodded Harry several times with no noticeable improvement. After class, Harry's soul seemed to have returned but his behavior grew even more strange, he was glued to Snape's side, clingy and nauseating, Snape was so annoyed he wanted to pull out his wand and petrify his friend.

"Hey, let go, I need to go to lunch!" Snape growled.

"I need to go eat too." Harry was still clinging tightly to Snape's arm.

"Aren't you supposed to be eating with Professor Voldemort?" Snape asked Harry in annoyance, resignedly giving up on trying to pull away from Harry's grip, his friend must have been a leech in his past life!

Harry's face was screwed up in misery as he tried desperately to squeeze out some tears, but he had not prepared in advance this time so that yielded no results. "Voldy's too terrifying, I don't want to face him alone."

Snape grew frustrated at this, Harry didn't want to face Voldemort alone, but Snape didn't want to sacrifice his own skin to Professor Voldemort's wrath either! That would be completely unlike a Slytherin. After glancing ahead in frustration, he suddenly gave a fake smile, "Harry, do you really not want to have lunch with Voldemort?"

"Sev, go with me." Harry ingratiatingly rubbed his face against Snape's arm, Snape was after all his only hope now.

"Harry…"

"Yes?"

"You have to understand, the first rule of Slytherin house is to never put yourself in a dangerous position."

Harry straightened in confusion, belatedly feeling a hint of unease. Snape would not say something like that for no reason. Suddenly thinking of a possibility, Harry paled in fright then timorously turned his head around, he glanced back, not daring to hope… and promptly felt despair.

Voldemort was currently standing three paces behind him, deep red eyes narrowed coldly, lips curled in a cruel smile, more frightening than a fire-breathing dragon. His prey was of course, Harry.

"Professor Voldemort, as I am not needed here, I'll go now." Snape looked quite relieved as he said this, to Harry, completely infuriating, goodbye.

Voldemort nodded, "Yes, you may go, it would not do to miss lunch."

And so, without even an apologetic or consoling glance at Harry, Snape blithely left, followed by Harry's resentful gaze.

Alone in the corridor with Harry, Voldemort lowered his head to look at the despondent Harry, then left after a single, softly spoken word, "Come." As Voldemort turned immediately to depart, Harry prayed soundlessly for a moment then followed.

House elves brought many elaborate dishes but Harry had no appetite whatsoever. Voldemort cut the steak on Harry's plate into small pieces then handed the plate back to Harry, "Try it." Seeing that Harry had no intention of moving, he smiled faintly, "I have no intention of looking into what is between you and that redheaded girl."

Harry lifted his eyes to stare at him in puzzlement.

"Harry, you are here, that is enough."

After so long, he had come to clearly understand whether there was anything between Harry and Evans, even if Harry and that redhead had had something in the past… why should he care? Harry's heart had long-since belonged to Voldemort.

[A/N: There is apparently a smut chapter that was supposed to be here but as the Chinese journal entry is locked under censorship, I am not sure, I will add it back if I ever find it unlocked.]

**125.**

After eating his fill, Harry curled lazily in Voldemort's arms, intermittently opening those slightly swollen, succulent red lips to eat the cream pudding that Voldemort was feeding him. Voldemort took the opportunity to kiss Harry's pale, velvety cheek, looking at the red passion marks all over the young man's neck brought a satiated smile to his lips.

The man's earlier maturity and forgiving actions had deeply moved Harry so much that he voluntarily kissed him- on the cheek- in reward, of course Voldemort would not miss this wonderful opportunity to take advantage. Although Harry had refused to let Voldemort enter him in the end, for an experienced man like Voldemort, even without penetration, there were plenty of pleasure acts they could engage in. Harry submitted time and again with flushed cheeks, his demure yet sultry reactions greatly satisfying the man's unspoken desires.

After finishing the pudding, Harry leaned further into Voldemort's arms like a kitten, inhaling the man's musky scent which was interwoven with a hint of roses. "Voldy, will James Potter succeed?"

"What?" Voldemort questioned, with his arms around Harry's slender waist.

"That… that Rita Skeeter…" It seems that Voldemort really isn't worried about Rita Skeeter's article.

Voldemort snorted in realization, "No he won't."

"Why?" Harry struggled into a sitting position, head cocked in query. The Potters were an ancient, noble family, with a prominent position in the magical world, wouldn't they be able to take on a puny reporter? "Can't they sue her?"

"Sue her?" Voldemort shook his head in amusement, "That would not be in accordance with the "Reporters' Golden Rule"."

"Reporters' Golden Rule"? Harry recalled that James had also mentioned this term while seeming quite helpless, "What is that? Is it very powerful?"

Voldemort was a little bemused by Harry's question, "Harry, I really don't know what you have been learning in the magical world over the last six years. You should understand more things than just your school work."

The "Reporters' Golden Rule" was established one hundred years ago, it was a magical law enacted specifically to protect the rights of reporters and its edicts protect both the right to speech and the personal safety of reporters. In essence, it states that once a reporter's words have been printed, that reporter will have absolute safety, and that any actions that endanger that reporter, such as legal action, physical harm, etc. may cause the perpetrator to be brought to trial.

Harry was shocked still, this was the first time he had heard of such a barbaric law and he was quite flustered. "This… this… is… too…"

"Too much, of course. But at the time, the wizard responsible for drafting this law was on good terms with both the Minister and members of the Wizengamot, and reporters were being oppressed by nobles and powerful families so that they could not speak freely, it was not so strange that this law was created in that environment."

"Then why did you have James…?"

"Just throwing a problem at the Potter family, to punish them for producing a brainless Gryffindor." Voldemort's smirk was full of malice.

Harry rolled his eyes, he had thought that Rita would be made to suffer, instead it was James' family that will be suffering.

Voldemort looked at Harry, turned his head up with a hand on the back of his head, then pressed his own thin, elegant lips to Harry's adorable little mouth, his right hand reaching inside Harry's robe to stop on a dusky pink nub, as his tongue lapped at Harry's sweetness, his fingers played with that delicate little nub. The panting Harry could only hang limply in Voldemort's arms, all his strength leeched away by the intimate caresses.

"If my Harry wants to punish Skeeter a little, I will have her invited to the Ministry for a little jail time." Voldemort murmured maliciously into Harry's ear.

In truth, he could have killed Rita Skeeter, she was a fool and compared Harry she was as insignificant as an insect. Because she had caused Harry distress, he should have just killed her, the Golden Rule might apply to others but to him it might as well just be a piece of paper. However, that woman still had her uses, she was bigoted, devious, thrill-seeking, and fond of turning the truth inside out, that type of person would be easy to manipulate and he could use her to sway the ordinary wizard's opinion, so, at this stage, that woman cannot die yet. Sorry Harry, as soon as the war is over- or perhaps even sooner, he would grant Harry's wish.

The effects of Rita's article was apparent the next morning, countless owls rushed towards the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, endlessly annoying the three stars of the article. Voldemort, the villain of the piece, remained undisturbed.

On the third day, the "Daily Prophet" printed a new article announcing that Rita Skeeter was an unregistered animagus! "She can turn into a spider!" The article announced emphatically.

One hour later, Rita was brought to the ministry for questioning, she was subsequently incarcerated in a temporary holding cell for fifteen days where she spent both Christmas and New Year's Eve. Finally, the ministry announced that Rita could not turn into a spider, nor was she an animagus, the matter ended with that.

Of course, the remaining impact of Rita's article did not hit them until the following year.

**126.**

The two masters of Voldemort Manor had a wonderful Christmas holiday.

Voldemort did not ask Harry to attend the Yule Ball, so Harry and Nagini spent the night watching DVDs in her room, Harry and Voldemort spent a happy New Year's Eve together, they went to the best restaurant in muggle London for a huge meal, then they went to the New Year's Eve Concert, both enjoyed their time together and felt that the other's existence was the best and most fortunate part of their own lives.

On matters of politics, Harry did not deliberately avoid such events as he had in the past, although he did not actively seek to involve himself in such things, he was receptive when Voldemort would talk to him, deliberately or unintentionally, about this topic. The situation in the magical world had grown worse than last year, the exposed portions of both the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix had sustained a significant attack and in order to ensure that the exposed sections suffer no further damage, both side were forced to expose more of their hidden resources. "All useless members from the outer circle," Voldemort smilingly stated, happy that he was currently on the sofa with Harry, his head resting on Harry's lap, which was quite supple and was a wonderful pillow. He had fought for this privilege for several days and it was hard won but well worth it. "Our core strengths were not touched on. Both sides are testing each other, conserving their power as they test the other using worthless resources. What I need to do now is wait. Dumbledore being who he is, I am sure that he will have his most important assets hidden away, to be revealed at the key moment, so I am waiting, waiting for that moment when he and I will have to fight to the death, only one of us will survive."

Putting down the copy of "Source of Magic" in his hands, Harry was slightly bemused, only one will survive? Such a familiar sentiment, so familiar that his heart was pounding. "If… you die…" He couldn't continue, his words swallowed by the rushing tide of grief and despair in his heart.

"I won't die. I will give you the world and spend eternity with you." Voldemort took Harry's hand, holding it tightly as his lips curved with confidence, crimson eyes sparking with determination. Harry was the priceless treasure that he had been waiting twenty years for, he will never let go, never let Harry repeat his tragic life.

"I believe you."

After the holidays, the DADA remedial sessions resumed with the unforgiveables. Harry did not ask James to demonstrate for these sessions, a boy who had only just learned the unforgiveables would not be able to handle the fact that he would have to get accustomed to killing. Although he had, more than once, sent frogs or worms to meet their maker, even killing some dogs or cats, these were all results of unintentional acts and at the time he did not know what those actions had meant. Now older, as he watched the despair in the darting black eyes of a little white mouse as Harry repeatedly used different spells to kill them or torture them with pain, James couldn't help putting himself in their place and he found the whole process unbearable.

Fortunately Harry had never intended for James to do such complicated and difficult demonstrations, as he will need to teach the students how to throw off the _Imperius_ curse, he may need to subject himself to unforgiveables cast by the students so that he could pin point the weaknesses in their casting, this would be too dangerous for James.

The acromatula population in the Forbidden Forest had been quite well decimated. Although Nagini didn't have that much of an interest in spiders she still enjoyed sinking her poisonous fangs into their bodies then watching them die. Hagrid had to venture into the forest often, trying to catch the despicable murderer. So Harry had to resort to using mice, after these mice have endured the sessions, even Filch's Mrs. Norris wouldn't deign to look at them.

Harry could feel that Lily was distancing herself from him though it was a nebulous feeling. The distance between them was already quite great and it had now grown even more significant. On the other hand, he and James spoke more and more, the topics of their conversations growing ever more intimate, shortening the distance between the two and improving their relationship with each other, making them seem more like mates. Harry did not use legilimency against James as he thought that he already understood James' motives from previous peeks into his mind- to become Harry's friend to get information! He gleefully thought about his own, similar intentions. But he neglected to consider the fact that a teenager's mind is inconstant- Harry himself was too distant from that mindset, those circumstances and that atmosphere, far too distant.

**127.**

Harry gave a wonderful performance in Slytherin's match against Ravenclaw on January 22nd, he easily caught the snitch and Slytherin won the match 460:100, but they were still 20 points behind Gryffindor. The Slytherins were not discouraged by this as the whole school well knew that Hufflepuff had the weakest Quidditch team and they were confident that during their game against Hufflepuff, Slytherin would be able to gain far more points than the Gryffindors' current 20 point lead.

When Harry had drafted the schedule for the DADA remedial sessions, he had foreseen that Dumbledore might not be able to easily resolve the werewolf issue. The other subjects, like giants, trolls, and inferi, were all species deeply loathed by wizards and Dumbledore could easily obtain one for the students to practice on, but werewolves- as well as being already quite scarce, most of them were on Voldemort's side, if Dumbledore tried to capture one by force, then Voldemort could easily bring charges against him at the Wizengamot, those who weren't on Voldemort's side were too concerned about their lives as "ordinary" wizards to be willing to show their transformed selves at Hogwarts on Dumbledore's say so. Therefore, when the two initially discussed this topic, Dumbledore had not demonstrated too much confidence but had instead stated that he would have to see what he could do. In the end, he failed to secure a subject. But this was not really an issue for Dumbledore as he had already come up with an alternative plan.

One night, Harry was descending from the top of the astronomy tower with Voldemort at his side, wearing a new mink cloak that the man had bought him, which beside being very warm, was also luxurious and elegant.

Voldemort suddenly said, "The full moon is approaching."

Harry glanced at him in confusion, wondering where this man's thoughts had jumped to.

Voldemort was quite smug as he continued, "Dumbledore requested my assistance in procuring a werewolf."

Harry was stunned, "I thought Headmaster Dumbledore would have taken one of the werewolves from Azkaban." Why would he ask Voldemort instead?

"You really believe that the old man is omnipotent? Azkaban- without my permission, no one can take a prisoner out of Azkaban!" Voldemort was filled with pride as he made this statement.

Oh, Harry thought with some annoyance, how could he have forgotten that those creatures guarding Azkaban had a good relationship with Voldemort and that the man spoke their language.

"Schedule a time for the session, there are only two nights of full moon in a month, don't allow the schedule to be delayed."

"Alright." Harry well understood the time constraints, "Let's begin with the coming full moon."

Voldemort nodded nonchalantly, "Whatever you prefer, I will have someone bring the werewolf tomorrow." He paused, considering the situation with Snape and Remus Lupin, "Don't forget to take care of the matter regarding Remus Lupin. The sessions on werewolves will in all likelihood extend beyond the two sessions, you will have to make sure that the students do not become suspicious as to why Lupin always misses classes held on nights of the full moon."

Voldemort's words reminded Harry that he will have to come up with an excuse to help keep Lupin's secret, if any of the students found out about his "problem", poor Remus would be expelled for sure!

"An excuse?" Snape's thin lips were pursed into a severe line, his smooth, shinny long hair falling softly around his face, making him appear much more approachable than the Snape of Harry's memories. This was especially true of Snape's speech, it was no longer as vitriolic and abrasive as Harry remembered, when speaking with Harry, Snape's words were more like teasing between friends and glee-filled derision when watching Harry's mishaps. But at this moment, Snape's infamous venom made another appearance, derisively mocking Harry's words and reasoning. "You will have no need to think up any excuses for Lupin, telling a good lie is a delicate process, you don't have much talent in this area. Your infantile deceptions can easily be read on your idiotic face, on this you are at about the same level as those idiotic Gryffindors."

Appearing to quite enjoy Harry's despondent reaction to his words, he continued somewhat distantly, "Leave the excuses to Lupin himself, with both James Potter and Sirius Black at his side, any lie will at least not be too outrageous." He then narrowed his eyes and deliberately dragged his next words out, "In truth, you should have kept this topic out of the schedule from the very beginning, Harry, it was cruel of you to include it."

Harry could not think of any response to this.

Remus' face paled dramatically when the sessions on werewolves were announced and he was speechless at he fell into his chair.

Seeing this, James patted his shoulder consolingly, "Don't worry, it won't be for very long. I've seen the schedule, it's just as a test subject for the unforgiveables, with werewolves being so dangerous… I don't mean you of course."

Sirius also added his opinion, "It's alright Remus, we'll think of something. Harry Potter already knows your secret and he hasn't told anyone, so it won't matter to him how you get out of this."

"We will still at least need a plausible reason," James glared a little at Sirius, "Otherwise Remus might get in trouble for it." If Remus' excuse was too lame, the blame would first fall on Harry for accepting it and James couldn't let that happen.

**128.**

Five days before the full moon, James called to Harry at the end of Potions class, "Harry, Remus will not be able to attend the sessions on werewolves as his mother has suddenly fallen ill, he left to visit her yesterday."

Harry feigned surprise but his eyes were calm. His encounter with James that time at the Three Broomsticks had already let James know that Harry knew Remus' secret. "That's too bad. I hope Mrs. Lupin recovers quickly so that Remus will be able to attend the following sessions."

"Thank you for your consideration." James was thanking Harry for both his easy acceptance of their excuse and for his silence on Remus' condition.

Three days before the full moon, Harry and James officially went to see the werewolf. The werewolf had been sent to Hogwarts a while ago, but for the students', in truth Harry's, safety, Voldemort had kept the werewolf isolated until now.

The werewolf was imprisoned in a sturdy metal cage, although it was not yet the full moon, he already appeared very agitated, his murky eyes feral and frothy saliva dripped from his gaping mouth. He jumped violently at the cage when he saw James and Harry, reaching out with his long arms to try and catch them, sharp, curved nails, five or six centimeters long, stretching towards them. His growls were loud and animalistic.

James frowned, it was not that he had not seen the various disturbing traits of werewolves prior to their transformation, on the contrary he was quite used to it, but this did not mean that he was completely unaffected by it. Sneaking a look at Harry, he found that he appeared to not at all be bothered by the werewolf's vicious behavior, it was almost as though he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, as though the being in front of him was just a wizard who did not warrant any special attention.

James' heart started beating uncontrollably, no matter the situation, Harry always shined, it was hard to imagine what kind of girl he would be with in the future, would any of the Death Eater girls of the right age be worthy of standing beside such an excellent young man?

"Close to night fall on the night of the full moon, he will be taken to the clearing in front of the Forbidden Forest, we will hold our session there. You will also have to take care to be safe." Harry reminded the werewolf's minders as he left.

At dusk on the night of the full moon, Harry and James arrived at the clearing together, hundreds of armchairs following them. They instructed the students to sit in a circle according to their houses and years, at a distance of one meter from a pre-drawn circle.

The minders put the werewolf's cage inside the pre-drawn circle then bowed to Harry and left. After the minders had left, Harry put up a defensive ward around the circle, then with a wave of his wand, the velvet covering over the cage slide down, disappearing at the same time as the cage itself, the werewolf was already lying on the ground, his body bathed in the pure moonlight.

An eerie moan, part human, part beast and completely bone-chilling, could be heard. The werewolf was on the ground on all fours as he stared fixedly at the moonlight, fur growing rapidly all over his body, his body also morphing into the shape of a wolf, he seemed to be enjoying the transformation as he kept letting out excited howls, these are the most degenerate amongst werewolves, they are not ashamed of their nature, instead they wish to infect more wizarding children, this werewolf had been sent to Azkaban for attacking more than thirty children.

Seeing that almost every student had been scared silly by the eerie scene playing out right in front of their eyes, those malicious, smirking wolf eyes gleefully watched the students pant in fright. It was obvious that the werewolf would like nothing more than to turn every student sitting here into a werewolf.

"In this session, we are learning how to deal with werewolves. Walk up to the circle, then attack the werewolf. You may use any spell you know, including the unforgiveables." Harry nodded at one boy, "We will start with you, one at a time."

The boy was a Ravenclaw who was sitting in the front row because he was on the short side, not having expected that he would be the first to have to face the terrifying werewolf.

He quavered as he stood and his legs trembled as he walked forward, but after half a year of learning he had known what preparations he had to make prior to the session so even though he was frightened beyond thought, he had still quickly raised his wand to fire off a spell. But the moment he reached the edge of the circle, the werewolf had sprung towards him. With his explosive strength, he shot at the boy like a bullet, not giving him any time to react, the boy could even clearly see the fur on the werewolf's face, his sharp, long claws and smell his putrid saliva.

"Ah-!" Most of the girls screamed at the sight, cowering into the arms of nearby boys, unwilling to watch what was about to happen to the unfortunate boy, the boys also felt their hearts stop and their faces pale.

But the tragedy did not occur, the werewolf was bounced back heavily as though he had hit an invisible wall and the boy was unharmed.

"Again." Harry said coldly, "You were too slow to react."

In the one and a half hour session, the number of students they got through was much lower than Harry had expected, the students all needed three or four tries before they could adjust to the werewolf's speed and terrifying appearance, many of the less brave girls sobbed in fright. But the thing that worried Harry the most was Snape's dark and forbidding expression.

**129.**

Slytherin House's dorms were located in the Hogwarts dungeons, untouched by the light of either the sun or the moon, but outside the dorm windows sun and moon were magically formed, giving off warm or cool light in day and night respectively. Different to other Slytherin students, Harry liked light, warmth, and even scorching sunlight, Snape often joked that he should change to Gryffindor house, "Only those immature idiots would like the over-bright sunlight, it pushes their already over-running passions to boiling heights." So Slytherin's sun and moon hung constantly outside Harry's window for his viewing pleasure, night and day.

The light of the full moon was inconceivably beautiful, round as a silver platter, pristine as new snow, shining coldly and faintly, yet incomparably mesmerizing. In the past, Harry would have been sitting on the window sill watching with all his attention until he grew too tired, but today he could only toss and turn on his bed, filled to the brim with racing thoughts.

What was Snape thinking of? Did the transformation of the werewolf… No, no, Snape was not that kind of person, he would not give up once he had set his thoughts and attention on someone, he was strong and steadfast. … but, his expression… Snape, have you come to despise Remus?

Unable to sleep, Harry sat up and irritably drew his bed curtains, colliding with Snape's mysterious, deep black eyes, "… Severus, you scared me." Harry murmured.

Snape looked away, "Harry… do you know where… where Lupin is right now?"

"Why… do you ask?" Harry also looked away, staring steadily at his curtains, as though he had never seen how beautiful they were before.

"Will you please tell me?" Snape did not answer Harry's question in his reply, his words filled with fatigue.

Harry bit his lip then resolutely replied, "Severus, if you do not tell me exactly why you need to know where Lupin is, I will not tell you." Why did he want to know where Remus was? He should know after today's sessions that right now, Remus would be fully able to destroy any of Snape's illusions of love, at this moment, Remus was a beast and all his human kindness had been completely taken over by animal instincts.

"He's in pain." Snape looked out at the full moon, "I had never seen a werewolf transformation before, I only knew that somehow, a wizard turned into a wolf. But today, I saw the entire process and learned that during this process a kind wizard such as he bears an incredibly heavy burden. Humanity taken over by animal nature, human turned into beast. If he, like today's werewolf, enjoyed becoming a werewolf, then he would undoubtedly be very happy, but he is a Gryffindor, a shockingly direct and just Gryffinfor, that type of enjoyment would be anathema to him. Always worried whether he might attack someone after he transformed yet completely unable to control himself, he must feel so insignificant under the effects the moon has on him. He is a kind person, he-" Snape stopped, his dark eyes showing a hint of sorrow, there was no need to continue, he had already said enough. "I want to see him, be with him, even if… it's only once."

"He won't recognize you, nor will he remember you when he wakes."

"That is what I hope." Snape slowly curled his lips, the curve so slight it was almost undetectable.

Agreeing with Snape's crazy plan, he consented to telling Snape Lupin's location at the next full moon, "Only for two days and only during the two and a half hours from 7:30 to 10:00, I will not give you any more time than that."

In February, in the Ravenclaw Gryffindor Quidditch match, Gryffindor won 600:280.

As the Easter break was in March there were no Quidditch matches and the DADA remedial sessions were also suspended, with students being assigned the homework of writing an essay on their feelings on confronting a werewolf. On April 8th, as expected, Slytherin beat Hufflepuff 500:160, it had to be said that the Hufflepuff team were capable enough in their scoring. With the results of this match, Gryffindor and Slytherin were head to head in the Quidditch cup, with the final winner to be decided in the match between the two houses in June.

When the remedial sessions on werewolves resumed, both Remus and Snape were absent. "They're doing something for me." Harry's smile was genial. James stared strangely at him but made no comment.

"Use a long stick to hit the knob on the Whomping Willow and it will stop attacking. There is a cave under the tree with a tunnel attached, walk along this tunnel until you reach the end and you will see him. Remember, you have two and a half hours." Snape lifted his head to look at the full moon, then followed Harry's instructions and entered the cave.

At the end of the tunnel was a shack, the Shrieking Shack. A weak, grey wolf was lying in a corner of the shack, sleeping deeply. Snape wanted to walk closer to him but stopped. No matter what he did, the distance between them would always remain.

Snape sat in another corner, silently watching over the sleeping wolf. Looking at the relaxed, relieved and unlined brow, looking at the restless eyes, moving even in sleep, looking at the slowing rising and falling chest, the body covered in scars gained over time.

Just looking, wanting only to watch, even if it was only for this one time.

**130.**

The full moon was round and bright on the second night of the full moon.

Snape sat quietly in a corner of the shack, eyes unblinking as he watched the sleeping grey wolf in the other corner. Even in sleep, Remus' body twisted restlessly, as though something was disturbing his slumber, no matter which position his body twisted into, it did not hide the scars on his body, criss-crossing, twisting together—

"Do you know who hurt him?" Snape asked Harry immediately after he returned yesterday.

Harry looked at him in shock, "Hurt him? Hurt who?"

"Lupin."

"No one, Severus, he had always been kind to everyone- the only one with a grudge against him is us." Harry shrugged helplessly.

"But—but-, there are scars all over his body, someone must have hurt him."

Harry thought carefully then shook his head, "I don't think so. His parents are magical, if someone had hurt him, his parents would not have done nothing."

Snape was silent, the scars on Lupin's body were real, so what had caused them?

"Perhaps he caused them himself," Harry recalled his Remus had once said to him, "He can't control his feral nature after transformation, but he couldn't attack anyone while trapped in the shack so he attacks himself."

He attacks himself? Snape clenched his hands tightly, trying to control the urge to touch the scars on Lupin's body. They were from two different worlds and he can't allow himself to sink any deeper into this, he cannot predict how he might react after touching those scars—they hurt him deeply just from looking at them, what would feeling them in greater detail do to him?

He was not naturally a cold person, it was just that he had never received any warmth and love and so he hadn't dared to hope anymore, so he can be ruthless with the one he loves, and he can be even more ruthless with himself. If he cannot be with Lupin then he will stop himself from falling deeper in love with him. Right now, he was still able to control his emotions and actions, but if he took any actions beyond his control, the raging beast inside his heart will break free and destroy everything.

Watch Lupin, just watch.

Lifting his wrist to look at the gold watch on it- Harry's Christmas present to him, a Swiss-made watch that was apparently very expensive- 10:30. It was time, he had to return, like Cinderella when the clock struck 12. Rising soundlessly he turned, spying the amber eyes of the grey wolf out of the corner of his eyes. Snape stood stock still, unable to prevent himself from turning around to look at the grey werewolf half-sitting as it stared at him in a bewildered way.

It was as though time had frozen, Lupin's eyes held no malice but were instead filled with confusion and bafflement. Even though Snape knew that Lupin didn't recognize him at all, he couldn't help feeling sad. If, just if, Lupin could look at him like this without having transformed, he would be willing to…

"Severus? You should come back! Now!" Harry's voice called out to him from the two-way mirror in his pocket, the remedial session was over and James and the other two had already set out for the Whomping Willow, it would not be good if Snape ran into them.

Snape turned and left, his billowing robes the last Lupin saw of him.

Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff in May, 300:150, sitting solidly in third place in the Quidditch cup.

June was a good month, the DADA remedial sessions were over and Harry's muggle world lessons for the Slytherins were also complete (under the strong requests of the students, Harry acceded to Voldemort's request for an another year of sessions for the seventh years, once every two weeks as before), and finally, it was time for the long anticipated Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

On the day of the match, Snape rose early and he dragged Harry up with him, "Today is the match with Gryffindor! What are you doing still in bed!"

Harry rubbed his eyes and yawned, "Relax Severus, relax, it's… only… Quidditch…"

Seeing Harry falling back into the bed, Snape waved his wand, conjuring a large ball of water over Harry's head, which quick descended with a whoosh.

"It's June, very hot, I just wanted to cool you off and wash away your sweat at the same time." Snape's smile was clearly malicious.

Harry swiped silently at the water on his face, rendered speechless, only able to think again that Snape was not someone one should mess with.

The atmosphere in the Great Hall was charged, silver platters covered the area in front of Harry, the Slytherin students pushing all the good dishes at Harry in hopes that he will be able to eat more, thereby keeping up his strength, thereby increasing his chances of catching the snitch first.

"It would be best if you caught the snitch while we are in the lead or when we are around the same score as Gryffindor, if that isn't possible, at least catch it when the score is 140 point or less in deficit." Slytherin's captain McNair was nagging at Harry like an old woman.

Crazy, they're all crazy, Harry felt that he was about to go crazy with the other Slytherin Quidditch players, he would be driven made by their nagging.


	15. Chapters 131 to 139

**131.**

The weather was not too good, it was overcast with dark clouds covering the sky. "It won't rain will it?" Narcissa asked as she lifted her head, her brows wrinkling as she looked at her silk robes, the height of fashion, just sent to her by her parents.

"Hopefully not." Harry grabbed his Firebolt, trying hard to recall whether he had put on the water-proof oil this morning and wishing that he could go back to the dorms and apply some.

"Merlin!" Snape shook his head, if it were to rain, they would all be drenched.

At 11:00 Madam Hooch flew onto the Quidditch pitch on her broom, the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams flying out behind her in their neat formations.

James sneaked a look at Harry, who was following behind the imposing and posturing McNair, Harry was trying to hide a yawn by lowering his head, a small child, that was what Harry was. A child… well not exactly a child since James was only older than Harry by several months, yet Harry had stronger magic than James, was more mature and meticulous than him… no, he couldn't call him a child, but just looking at Harry, with his flowing hair held by sparkling combs, large, jewel-like green eyes hazy from just waking up, bright red lips repeatedly stretching in wide yawns, showing his neat, white teeth, along with that petite body wrapped up in beautiful silk robes, he was the picture of a pampered and spoiled noble scion, indulged and spoiled by parents and relatives, thus unknowing of the perils of the world and blessed with innocent and clear eyes. But truly, not a child, when attacking an enemy, those eyes were as still as a pool of dead water, unruffled even when facing a werewolf, all this clearly indicated that Harry Potter had long departed the ranks of the underage wizard and was able to stare down at all the students of Hogwarts from a loftier position. It was perhaps only that incredible leap from his broom during that match eight months ago, that showed that he was still a child. Someone like that, no matter how much James had once detested him, he had to admit in this moment that there was something about Harry Potter that was irresistible, when James had been distant from Harry, he could hate him from afar, but when one got close to him and could see he smile, see him get angry, see him feel joy or sadness, that hate or dislike faded away, until it disappeared, James had grown to like Harry, and this liking had grown stronger and stronger. But this person was still so distant from James, no matter how much he tried, he could not breach the chasm between them, and so he could only watch from the other side of the divide. And then there was Lily, the woman he loves, beautiful, gentle, determined, just, his optimal mate, once he had yearned for her, but now that he had her, he couldn't keep himself from yearning after another that made his heart beat like thunder, he knew that it was unfair to Lily, but as long as Harry exists, James' eyes couldn't help but be drawn to this boy who mesmerized him, he continually warned and berated himself over his behavior but his body and his eyes faithfully mirrored his half-captured heart. He loved Lily and he yearned for Harry. He could not control himself or his feelings.

Today, will he again risk his own safety for victory? James was apprehensive, the Harry he knows only acts when he holds all the cards and would never endanger himself, except- for that one time in the last match. James' heart clenched as he remembered that he had caused that to happen, if he hadn't been chasing after Harry so closely, Harry would not have taken such a risk. But if James didn't chase after him, Gryffindor would not have had a chance in that match, even if it was only an honorary match, a loss would have devastated many Gryffindor students. Today's match is linked to the reputation of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, built up over the last four years, it is linked to the outcome of the Quidditch cup, to the outcome of the House Cup, James could not lose and this meant that he would have to go up against Harry and see which one of them came out the winner, Harry would definitely risk himself to ensure victory. James had always thought that it was alright to go quite far for victory, Gryffindors had always thought so, but every time he thought about what Harry might do, James was filled with doubts. Unwilling to see any harm befall that delicate one, unwilling so see any harm come to that almost flawless body, if it took trading Gryffindor's victory to ensure... no, he was a Gryffindor, honor, courage, determination, he can't, he has to win!

James glanced at Harry again, greedily taking in those adorable, kittenish eyes of Harry Potter, dewy from another yawn.

**132.**

The sky got darker and darker, as though night was falling early, lights were lit around the Quidditch pitch, the yellow glow encompassing the entire field. Perhaps she was also affected by the tenseness emanating from the stands, Madam Hooch's face was tightly solemn, her usual lightheartedness nowhere in evidence, after tensely inspecting both teams to check that there were no irregularities, she put the silver whistle in her mouth and blew to announce the start of the game.

Almost at the same time, fourteen figures began to dance in the sky, looking like fourteen wisps of smoke. Chasers flew after the Quaffles, Beaters alertedly watched or smacked the bludgers, the golden snitch made a brief appearance then vanished to who knows where.

Harry sat quietly on his broom, impatience was a major deterrent to victory and he had plenty of patience. He quickly undid the uppermost golden button on his robe, it was just too damn hot!

The match was heating up, perhaps their first loss against Slytherin in four years had inflamed the Gryffindors or perhaps they were holding a grudge over James's fall, anyhow, their movements were especially agressive in this match and the Quidditch pitch became a battlefield. McNair caught a bludger, then threw it right at the face of the Gryffindor Beater Doris, blood flew and Sirius struck back, hitting McNair in the stomach with his beater bat, causing McNair to curl and tumble in the air from the pain. The result was that both teams were penalized, 10:10.

The snitch appeared suddenly, just as the two teams were fighting over Slytherin Chaser Bell's ankle being grabbed by Gryffindor Keeper Stone, James and Harry had been yelling in support of their own teams but they both discovered the appearance of the snitch at the same time. Both pushed their brooms after the snitch like flittering butterflies. "Bang!" The imposing flash of lightning split the dark sky, shocking both of them so that their hands met as they each reached for the snitch which disappeared once again.

Harry pulled his hand back resentfully as he flew back into the Slytherin area, out of the corner of his eyes, he spied James' still form, a look of distraction on his face. "Hey James?" He touched the handle of James' broom to catch his attention. In such a dangerous match, as one of the players under threat, it was strange for a seeker to be distracted, it was akin to playing games with one's own safety. Whether from professional courtesy or from personal feeling Harry felt that he had to call James' attention to this.

Recovering his wits, James hesitantly thanked Harry then flew off, his body shuddering under his loose uniform. When he had touch Harry, it felt like a strange current had passed through his whole body, just like the feeling he got when he kissed Lily several days ago, wonderful and exciting, as though all the heat in his body was pooling at the point where they touched. He grabbed tightly onto this Nimbus 1981, bitterness and distress filling his heart.

Twenty minutes after the start of the game, it began to rain. At first it was just a light drizzle but within minutes it became a downpour, with streaks of lightning flashing across the rain. The crowd raised umbrellas but the players could only allow the rain to pelt them. The score was 50:50 and the snitch had yet to make another appearance. In raging wind and rain, Madam Hooch turned her broom downwards, intending to ask Dumbledore to reschedule the match for another day, but suddenly a flash of gold appearing in front of her eyes amidst the rain, she flew after it and found, unsurprisingly, two figures, one in red and one in green, streaking pass in front of her.

Even in such wind and rain, the speed and stability of the Firebolt was commendable, and with James' personal enhancements and modifications, the Nimbus 1981 was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Firebolt in this weather. The two used any means available to gain an advantage in catching the snitch, verbal attacks, physical attacks, their eyes were glued to that little golden ball with its fluttering wings, their thoughts only on this same little ball, no matter where the snitch flew to evade them, they followed closely behind. Closer, even closer, finally two hands reached out at the same time, at the moment they reached the snitch, Harry's right hand reached out as well, noticing this, James' hand paused for a moment.

**133.**

All the remaining twelve players, both Slytherins and Gryffindors, thought Harry's victory was uncontestable, only Harry himself knew that this was not so, he couldn't understand why James would hesitate at such a keep moment, if he hadn't hesitated, it was still uncertain which of them would have won. He wanted to ask James, but the other's dark expression gave him some pause. Harry thought about this again and again but the more he thought, the more eerie it got and so he finally gave up. They could go at it again in Seventh year, there was no need for Harry to torture himself over this.

Lifting the Quidditch Cup for the first time in five years, the Slytherin students were brought to tears, even Voldemort was not able to remain completely stoic and was a little hyper though of course he recovered quickly. The Gryffindors were despondent, consoling each other that they could try again next year.

With the Quidditch Cup in hand, Slytherin had smooth sailing towards the House Cup. During the feast on the last day of term, Dumbledore announced that Slytherin had won the House Cup, ending Gryffindor's four year reign, silver and green banners and bunting covered the Great Hall to the smug satisfaction of many.

The holidays after sixth year were not as fruitful as Harry thought they would be, he had wanted to spend more time with Voldemort to cement their relationship and their feelings, but Voldemort had been busy over the entire summer holidays, even on Harry's birthday, he could only spend midnight with him before apologetically departing.

"Baby, there is too much that I must do, I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you." Voldemort was filled with remorse as he apologized to Harry, the boy's resentful eyes hit heavily at Voldemort's heart but he had to leave and complete his work if he wanted to spend eternity with Harry. "Trust me, I will not do anything with anyone else, I promise."

It had to be said that this promise had some impact as Harry felt much lighter. Nagini had been sternly instructed by Voldemort to be at Harry's side at all times, even in sleep Nagini had her tail softly wound around Harry's ankle, to prevent Harry from doing something like running away from home in boredom, Harry objected several times to no effect.

Voldemort did not appear on the platform until after Harry had boarded the Hogwarts Express, they only had enough time to wave and say a few words through the open window. "There's something wonderful happening this year Harry, you will like it." He smiled as he held Harry's little hand, "A very wonderful thing."

"What is it?" Harry's interest was piqued, not a lot of things could excite Voldemort.

Voldemort's smile grew more mysterious, "I can't tell you, you'll know when you arrive at the school."

"Bollocks."

"Promise me you won't do anything dangerous." Voldemort's expression grew more serious as his hold tightened on Harry's hand.

Harry looked down at Voldemort in bafflement, "What could be dangerous at the school? Does this have something to do with your "news"?" Harry's eyes rolled in exasperation.

Voldemort did not confirm or deny his words, he only held on tighter to Harry's hand, "Promise me that you will not do anything dangerous."

Seeing how serious Voldemort was, Harry acquiesced, "Alright, I won't do anything dangerous."

Satisfied, Voldemort released Harry's hand then smiled evilly, "If you go back on your promise, I will punish you severely." Those crimson eyes turned lascivious.

Harry flushed red as Voldemort's words reminded him of his "punishment" after last October's Quidditch match, the "punishment" that brought him to tears, he rapidly drew back his hand and sat primly in his seat as he sneaked a glance at Snape who appeared to be reading first his newspaper, then a text book that he pulled out and also, pretended to read. Git. Saying something like that in front of so many people, did he think that everyone were idiots? And, smiling like… like… that, as though his words had hidden meanings, even if Harry didn't do anything dangerous, that didn't mean the man wouldn't be doing those things to him. He stilled remembered his birthday in July, if it wasn't for the fact that Voldemort did not have enough time, that man would have taken Harry completely. The man's words at the time were, "You won't be able to get away at Hogwarts." Harry had been filled with anticipation at the time, thinking that something was finally going to happen between them, but in the end nothing happened beyond some caresses and other intimacies similar to what they had engaged in before.

Really… Harry sighed. Was something going to happen when they reach Hogwarts? Voldemort was fine with it, but Harry was still quite shy and embarrassed, that was why he had hoped that something would happen on his birthday, but he was thwarted by Voldemort's work.

Voldemort might be in for some disappointment if he expects something to happen at Hogwarts…

**134.**

In the evening of September 1st, Hogwarts students were sitting at their house tables in the Great Hall as usual, each welcoming new students to their house. This year Slytherin received thirty new students each waiting in line to bow to Harry before they sat at the end of the table in an orderly fashion.

After the feast Dumbledore made his usual speech regarding restricted areas and items, the returning students listened with some impatience while new students paid much closer attention. Harry found that several new items had been added to the restricted list and wondered whether Filch was behind their addition.

"I have an announcement, this year there will not be any Quidditch matches held." Dumbledore stated this in a very exhilarated tone while all the teachers at the head table smiled mysteriously.

Harry stilled for a moment as he got a feeling of déjà vu, remembering back to that eventful summer day, when all the adults were putting on enigmatic airs on September 1st, then he thought back to Voldemort's strange request just before the train departed earlier today, he had a very bad feeling about this.

The students erupted in a cacophony, some already strenuously objecting. Quidditch is the favorite sport of wizards young or old and the Quidditch Cup was one of the most momentous inter-house events every year, but this year it was cancelled?

Dumbledore was unaffected by the students' open disapproval, his blue eyes twinkling with joy behind half-moon spectacles, he continued, "An important event will be held at Hogwarts which will take up a full school year, and so I do not believe we will have time to hold the Quidditch Cup as well, of course neither do I believe that all of you will be interested in participating in the Quidditch Cup by that time."

Dumbledore's provocative words doused most students' rage as they turned to discussions over what this "important event" might be, even the usually stoic and composed Lucius could not help turning to discuss this with Snape, "Severus, what do you think this is? It must be a huge event to take up a whole year!"

Snape thought for a moment then shook his head, "I don't know. Harry, do you have any idea?" If any of the students might know what Dumbledore was teasing them with, it would be Harry, Voldemort must have told him.

Harry was getting more and more certain what Voldemort and Dumbledore were talking about, but he still replied with regret aimed at Snape and resentment aimed at Voldemort, "I'm sorry Sev, I don't know. Voldy did mention something," At this both Snape and Lucius leaned forward in anticipation, hoping to be the first to hear Harry's words, "But he just told me not to do anything dangerous and wouldn't tell me anything else."

Although somewhat disappointed, the two still gleaned something important from Harry's words, that this "important event" was quite dangerous, which was why Voldemort had solemnly requested that Harry not enter it. They were both apprehensive over the possible danger and anticipatory over a chance to perform well and show Voldemort their mettle. On this note, perhaps it is a good thing that Harry not take part.

"After much negotiation and preparation, the Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Magical Games and Sports have finally agreed to bring back the Tri-wizard Tournament." Dumbledore made the announcement Harry expected in unhurried words.

The Tri-wizard Tournament will begin in October and will be held between the three magical schools of Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, one champion from each school will compete as their schools representative for winning prize of 1000 galleons. "A very fair adjudicator will be responsible for judging who will be eligible to represent their school." Dumbledore smiled smugly as Harry recalled a huge, plain wooden cup burning with blue flames.

The same as in Harry's past, there was an age limit for the Tri-wizard Tournament, all entrants must have reached seventeen years of age, this announcement again aroused the ire and vociferous protests of many students, although the seventh years were mainly quiet as they made attempts to put a stop to the protests of the other students.

After the feast, the Quidditch discussions of previous years became a thing of the past as students began to fantasize over the Tri-wizard Tournament, those of age imagined themselves as courageous warriors representing Hogwarts in the Tournament, winning and being presented with the huge prize. No one dared express their own joy and anticipation in front of Harry though, all commiserating instead over Harry's loss at not being able to take part in the Tournament, but as soon as Harry left, they immediately turned to joyous speculation.

**135.**

"You don't seem to be too disappointed Harry." Snape said as he sat on his bed with his back against the wall, his soft black hair falling around his face as dark eyes rapidly perused the book "Magical Plants beneath the Sea". His tone was calm but he was feeling somewhat sorry for his friend. It was true that the Tri-wizard Tournament is dangerous and many deaths had occurred in the past during the Tournament, on some occasions the champions had all perished, but if one was determined enough and made it to victory, what an enormous honor it would be!

Harry lifted his head from his book in disagreement, "Why should I be disappointed? I am not short on money, nor do I love fame, there's nothing about the Tri-wizard Tournament that could move me and make my blood heat."

"But the Tournament champions are the best students of the three magical schools, they are the ultimate warriors, that honor… it is said that each task is incredibly difficult, being able to perfectly perform them would be a confirmation of one's own ability, right?"

Harry shook his head emphatically and smiled, "Sev, I have no interest in that sort of fame. My greatest hope is to be able to live peacefully, in the way I desire, in health and happiness. Although my current circumstances have grown beyond my initial expectations, I can still live the life I want. I have no intention whatsoever of being noticed by everyone, in fact, I dislike being the focus of so much attention so I would never go out of my way to attract others' notice as that would be a big burden to me. What happened the last time was an accident completely beyond my control, so that doesn't count."

Having not expected such sentiments, for a moment Snape had no idea how to respond. Harry had to be the first and likely the last student to ever be so disdainful of the Tri-wizard Tournament, most importantly, he was not joking or putting on airs, he was serious in his disinterest. It was probably because the massive honor he received for his actions last year had made Harry disinterested in such an "insignificant" honor as the Tournament, yes that must be it. Snape could only come to this conclusion as he truly could not believe that Harry was completely unaffected by the possible glory of competing in the Tournament, this was because every Slytherin student, including he and Lucius, were crazy over the Tournament, all the of age students were eagerly anticipating showing off their abilities in front of the adjudicator, hoping to be the one selected. Hoping to be announced as Hogwarts' best.

"… Have you thought Harry, that if you entered, you would undoubtedly be chosen as Hogwarts champion and your abilities would guarantee an easy win for Hogwarts, but without your entry, then it becomes uncertain who will be chosen as our champion. If, just if, Hogwarts' champion does not win, then neither Professor Voldemort, nor yourself would be too happy, correct?" Snape raised his brow as he glanced at Harry out of the corner of his eye.

Harry stilled at Snape's words, he had not thought of this before, he had just naturally assumed that Hogwarts would win as Hogwarts was the best. But like Snape said, and like that fake Moody said, the other two schools would be doing everything they could to defeat Dumbledore and prove that he is just an ordinary wizard. Even putting aside Madame Maxime from Beauxbatons, High Master Karkaroff from Durmstrang was a Death Eater, his victory would be the Death Eaters' victory, but if Voldemort wished for Hogwarts to win then it would turn back into Hogwarts against Durmstrang- but this would be subject to Voldemort's approval.

If Hogwarts lost… if Hogwarts lost, Harry wrinkled his fine brows tightly as he paced back and forth in his dorm room. He could not imagine what would happen if Hogwarts lost the Tournament. Hogwarts was a home for him, a safe haven and another place where he could rest his heart, how could he let the school that meant so much to him lose in the Tri-wizard Tournament? Harry didn't even want to think about such a possibility. He hesitantly and without much conviction, said, "Voldy… Voldy will have a plan, I believe that." Voldy loved Hogwarts just as much as he did and also considers it another home, he would not want Hogwarts to lose, he couldn't!

He will go ask Voldy after breakfast tomorrow.

**136.**

The next morning, Harry rushed through breakfast before hurrying to find Voldemort, James watched from the Gryffindor table as he tried to decide whether he should go talk to Harry. Last night, the news that Harry Potter could not enter the Tri-wizard Tournament had spread through the four houses like wildfire, apart from some students who idolized Harry, most of the others were gloating over his misfortune.

Sirius was overjoyed as he leapt onto the table in the common room and yelled at the top of his lungs, "James, did you hear? Harry Potter can't enter the Tri-wizard Tournament!"

James was not as happy as Sirius, on the contrary, he couldn't believe his ears, he had never imagined that Voldemort, always so eager to show off his power and bathe in adulation, would forbid Harry from entering this prestigious event, James never thought he would do something so unfair to Harry! The heads of the three schools had fought for centuries to bring the Tournament back, now that it was being held again, the Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Magical Games and Sports would of course had taken all precautions to ensure that any danger is minimized, plus, what could be more dangerous than what occurred on August 15th last year? Becoming the champion was the dream of every Hogwarts student, James believes that it is the same for Harry. As well, such a talented and attractive figure should be brought to the attention of witches and wizards all over the world to receive their admiration! But all this has been destroyed by Voldemort, Harry must be devastated!

Sirius had yelled for all this time without receiving the slightest response from his good friend, he along with Remus and Peter sent strange looks at James, "James, why aren't you saying anything? Aren't you happy?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes as he smirked, "This is a good chance to get back at those Slytherins, with Harry Potter out of the running, you will definitely be made the champion, if so, once you win the Tournament, we Gryffindors will be able to lord it over the Slytherins! I was worried when we lost the Quidditch Cup last year, I didn't know how we were going to get through seventh year with all those slimy Slytherins laughing at us for the whole year. I never thought we would get such good news on the first day, not only will the Quidditch Cup be replaced by the Tri-wizard Tournament, but Harry Potter has been forbidden by his uncle to enter!" Sirius burst out laughing as he jumped in front of James, "Once you win the Tournament James, we will once again have the Slytherins under our feet! "Hogwarts, A History" will only record that you were the winner of the Tri-wizard Tournament, it will not record that it was because Harry Potter didn't enter, this is just too great!"

James laughed placatingly, "You're right Sirius. But you shouldn't be so open with your gloating, luckily Lily is already asleep in her dorm and didn't hear you, otherwise you would receive another tongue-lashing."

Sirius flicked his hair unconcernedly as he struck an stylish pose, attracting the besotted eyes of several of the nearby girls, "I'm only restraining myself from reprimanding her for your sake and because I'm a gentleman, I- Sirius Black- am a gentleman's gentleman and will not quibble over such inconsequential matters with a girl."

Remus nodded approvingly, "That's right. Because even if you objected, Lily would have countless arguments and facts to completely destroy your objections."

James and Peter laughed at this as Sirius pouted resentfully as he muttered what sounded like, "You've all been brainwashed by that Slytherin git."

Although Remus had not deliberately changed the topic, James was still grateful to him. Sirius was no longer interested in continuing this topic and James could finally stop saying things that he didn't mean.

James had the urge to speak to Harry about the Tournament, not to rub salt into his wounds, but in hopes of consoling Harry and easing his heart, James would even to willing to be Harry's emotional dumping ground, to listen to his woes. It's just that when he saw Harry, he hesitated. Who was he to approach Harry like that? Did he truly think that all his previous actions against Harry in the past years could be so easily forgotten after just one year spent amicably? Was he Harry's friend? Would Harry dislike it if he approached him out of the blue like that? Countless questions and doubts spun inside James' head and he didn't know what to do as he hesitated over whether to approach Harry. But he was after all a Gryffindor lion, courage and fearlessness was in his blood, he finally decided that he would sincerely approach Harry to talk after the Muggle Studies class.

**137.**

Feeling Harry's approach, Voldemort slowed his steps, already knowing why Harry came to find him.

For the Tri-wizard Tournament.

He did not at all regret almost deceiving Harry into making that promise not to do anything dangerous yesterday morning on platform 9 and 3/4, Harry was his one and only treasure and he had already allowed Harry to be endangered once before, fortunately Harry was able to come out unscathed through his own abilities, otherwise Voldemort didn't know what he would do if he lost Harry again after finding him. Although it was true that the schools had minimized the danger through careful preparations, but that did not mean that there would be no danger. The three tasks for this year all have some inherent dangers and after what had happened before, he had sworn to himself that no matter what happens, he would put Harry's safety first. The Tri-wizard Tournament is very exhilarating and the draw of winning it was very great, both from the fame and the prize money, but it wasn't as if one could die from NOT entering. His Harry was so pale, adorable and beautiful, if he so much as received a scratch on that delicate, flawless skin, Voldemort would be heartbroken. Also, he had reason to believe that Harry himself was not interested in the fame he might get from entering the Tournament. His Harry had never had any ambition for fame or a career, he was only interested in pursuing a peaceful and unglamorous life. Since August 15th last year, Harry had often complained to Voldemort over the fan mail, challenges and declarations of love he had received from countless admirers and fans.

Voldemort had hesitated when he made his decision not to allow Harry to enter the Tournament, he had doubted whether he was being too controlling over Harry's life. Harry was a strong, independent boy, Voldemort had known this when he had first approached Harry, Harry was independent and he had his own set of morals, even though he had become Harry's guardian through his machinations in the Family Court of the Ministry of Magic and though he now held Harry heart and Harry largely submitted to his will, if Harry was to ever find something that he truly wanted, Voldemort believed that he would be put aside with utmost determination.

It was Harry's choice whether to enter the Tri-wizard Tournament and Voldemort had no right to strip Harry of his choice, however he truly did not want Harry to participate in such a dangerous competition, he didn't even want him to participate in the choosing of the champions- Harry was without a doubt the most outstanding student in Hogwarts, this was a point of pride for him and he did not doubt that Harry would be made champion if he entered his name. Something else also firmed Voldemort's determination to keep Harry from entering.

A young girl, only a month older than Harry and a sixth year student at Beauxbatons with a beautiful name, Sofina Marceau, sent a distinctly French and intensely passionate love letter to Harry, a letter that covered seven or eight pieces of parchment and overtly declared her love for him, clearly pointing out the fact that she was a chaste virgin. She included a picture of herself with the letter, a picture as tall as a man, showing Sofia with brilliant red hair, emerald eyes the color of summer leaves, and a curvy, voluptuous figure, just like a nubile sculpture, oozing with sultry attraction.

Harry had been very disturbed as he whined to Voldemort, "I don't like this Voldy, I don't like this at all! If I could do everything over again, I wish that I had never gone to the Quidditch World Cup, I'd rather that you resolved the situation instead! That way my life would be as peaceful as it was before." He angrily pulled out his wand and pointed it at the picture, setting it on fire until it turned to ashes. "I have had enough, when will I be able to have my old life back!" Harry had raged, slightly hysterical.

Voldemort had noticed that the girl was quite beautiful, he had also noted Harry's deep frustration at the situation.

**138.**

"Was there something you wanted?" Voldemort lowered his head to smile down at Harry, his arm habitually going around Harry's slim shoulders as the scent of musk wafted into his nose, stirring his body.

Harry leaned docilely into Voldemort's embrace, enjoying the rare moment of the intimate contact after the last two months of Voldemort's constant absence, as he murmured, "I want to talk with you about the Tournament."

Voldemort rejected Harry's request with no hesitation, "I don't believe there is anything to talk about. Don't forget, you promised me yesterday that you would not do anything dangerous or you will be punished. I believe Severus has already told you how dangerous the Tournament is, I could not possibly allow you to enter into such a competition."

"I…" Harry wanted to explain that he had not approached Voldemort for that, but he was interrupted before he could say any more.

"Unless you want to be punished?" As he said these words he had already escorted Harry into a room down the hall, locking the door after they entered. It was a storeroom of some kind filled with strange items. Voldemort conjured a leather sofa and pressed Harry forcefully into it.

Harry disbelievingly blinked his eyes, trying to convince himself that he really was seeing what was in front of him. Hadn't he come to discuss the Tri-wizard Tournament with Voldemort? How did it turn into him eagerly approaching Voldemort as though begging the man to bed him? Even if he had really lost his mind and wanted to go to bed with Voldemort while at the school, this was the last place and the worst time for that- he still had to go to his first class, Care of Magical Creatures, he had never skived off a class before! "Voldy…"

His words were cut off by Voldemort's moist lips and agile tongue, its movements making Harry completely forget why he had approached Voldemort today. Finally he gathered his dwindling rationality and panted as he pushed away Voldemort's hands which were trying to divest him of his silk trousers, his little face flushed red and the taste of Voldemort still lingering inside his mouth, voice raspy and broken as he tried to say a complete sentence, "…No…you can't… Voldy, stop… stop it, I… I still have… class…"

Seeing that Harry was so flustered that he was almost in tears, Voldemort regretfully drew back his hands, giving up on his intention to take Harry completely. At first he had just wanted to fluster Harry a little, even if he was truly intending to ravish Harry, he would not have picked such a crass location, but Harry was just too tempting and he had unintentionally gotten into it more and more until he was ready to take Harry, if he had not stopped him just them, they might have been rolling passionately on the sofa by now. Voldemort straightened and put himself back in order, then he put his arms around Harry's waist and pulled the somewhat lethargic boy onto his lap. "Didn't you come to tell me how much you missed me?" He smirked.

Harry glared at him half-heartedly, wanting to punch this amorous, smug, git. "Of course not!"

"Then what did you want to talk about? No matter what, you have already made your promise to me so don't even think about going back on that. One's integrity is a very valuable thing." Voldemort gloated over this, "You said that you would not do anything dangerous, the Tournament is very dangerous, I am also abiding by your wishes as you have told me more than once that you don't want to be at the center of peoples' attention and would prefer a peaceful life, entering the Tournament would bring you attention, you do know this correct?"

"Of course, I like living quietly and peacefully." Harry agreed whole-heartedly with Voldemort's not entirely altruistic words, "So I have no intention of discussing entering the tournament with you."

Voldemort lazily raised one slim brow, as though completely unconcerned when in truth he was mentally letting out a sigh of relief. If Harry had insisted on entering the Tournament and asked Voldemort to accede to his decision, he would have had to painstakingly try to convince Harry otherwise, or accede to Harry's demand. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I'd like to know, which school you want to win."

Without any hesitation, Voldemort answered immediately, "Hogwarts of course, there is no question, it cannot be any other."

"What about Durmstrang? Karkaroff is their High Master, don't you want them to perform well?" Harry asked.

Voldemort narrowed his eyes, how could his little one think that? He deserves some punishment for this.

**139.**

"Well Harry, you certainly brought up a valid point." Voldemort feigned sudden realization, as though he had discovered something important, "Durmstrang has always had a good relationship with Slytherin house and many of my Slytherins are good friends with Durmstrang students before they go to school, they also get along well after graduation. Also, Karkaroff has been very loyal and has served me well since becoming High Master, he has helped nurture many talented and noble born purebloods, as an underling, he has done very well." Voldemort appeared deep in thought and conflicted, very conflicted, "I should give him some reward for all that he has done for me. The best reward might be victory in the Tournament, not only will it be an award for Karkaroff, it would also be a great blow to Dumbledore, to tarnish that old man's sanctimonious aura a little! What do you say Harry?" He smiled widely, showing his bright teeth and looking to be in very high spirits. He asked for Harry's opinion but was not really looking for an answer as he continued before a despondent Harry could put together a reply, "Just think, what a wonderful strategy, very creative. I was too bound to my traditional ways, after all, I'm not the Headmaster of Hogwarts, what does it matter to me whether Hogwarts wins? Harry, your suggestion is wonderful, I will floo Karkaroff right after the morning classes to discuss this. Don't worry, I will not forget you my little Harry, you did after all give me this wonderful idea correct? I will make sure to tell this to Karkaroff, I'm sure he will wish to give my Harry an extravagant gift." Voldemort kissed Harry's cheek happily filled with pride.

"I don't want a ruddy gift from Karkaroff!" Harry bit his lower lip heavily as his eyes misted with tears. He had stared fixedly into Voldemort's eyes as the man had made his apparently sincere statements, hoping to see some sign that the man was only jesting, he suspected that the man was not being serious, but his sincere attitude and flawless facial expressions chilled Harry more and more. Perhaps Voldemort was serious about this, he told himself this, but emotionally, he could not accept that at all. No, it wasn't like that, he would not believe that Voldemort would betray Hogwarts, the Voldemort he knows and understands loves Hogwarts passionately and would allow no one to impugn Hogwarts' reputation. No matter how history changes, on this point Voldemort should not have changed. "I thought… I thought you loved Hogwarts. You were just joking right? You wouldn't want Durmstrang to win, would you? Even though Dumbledore is Hogwarts' Headmaster, Hogwarts is still your home, it's the place that gave you power, the only place you feel warmth and safety, the only place where you can feel at peace, just like how I feel, right? You love Hogwarts and want to make sure that it is the best magical school and the winner of the Tri-wizard Tournament, that's what you think isn't it?"

Slender fingers brushed over Harry's face, flicking away the moisture in Harry's eyes, Voldemort pressed his lips softly against Harry's brow, his eyes, his nose, his cheek and his lightly trembling lips, "My dear little fool, you already know this. Why did you ask me such a question? In my past, my present and my future, I will always take pride in Hogwarts and take pride in having been a student of Hogwarts. In my heart, it is the best and strongest, unbeatable. I love it, just like you love it. So," He deliberately paused and tightened his face in apparent anger, "You should apologize to me for doubting me, you must also promise me that you will never question me over such an idiotic matter again."

Harry was filled with remorse as he lowered his head and berated himself for his doubts, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted your love for Hogwarts, please forgive me. I promise, I swear on Merlin that I will never doubt you on this again. Please forgive me."

Voldemort hugged Harry tightly, "Harry, you must remember that though Hogwarts is my home, the place that gave me power and makes me feel save and warm, and gives me peace of mind and tranquility, it is not the only, nor is it the most important." Harry lifted his head and looked into Voldemort's loving eyes, which had already told him what Voldemort was trying to say, "Harry, wherever you are, that is home, that is the place that gives me true strength, that is where I feel peace of mind and tranquility. I can lose Hogwarts, but I cannot lose you Harry."

His heart filled to bursting with incredible joy, Harry wrapped his arms around Voldemort's shoulders and kissed the man's lips deeply, "The same to you Voldy. Where you are, that is my home and my everything. I love you and I can't lose you either."


	16. Chapters 140 to 151

**140.**

To Harry, Muggle Studies was not an ordinary class, he grew up in the muggle world and was familiar with all its trappings, but at the same time, he was a wizard and he had to look at and study muggles through a wizard's eyes in this class. As Hermione had once said, looking at muggles from a wizard's point of view could be a strange experience, especially for one who well understands muggles.

Harry was carefully taking notes, but his keen senses recognized that someone was watching him. Lifting his head to glance around, he met James' eyes head-on. James looked away as though nothing had happened and Harry lowered his head as he pondered the increasingly strange relationship between them. It no longer felt like he was being befriended so that he could later be pumped for information, what he was feeling from James was becoming more and more indefinable and strange. This was especially apparent during the last Quidditch match several months ago, James had hesitated at the key moment, Harry firmly believes that he saw relief on James' face the moment Harry had caught the snitch. Why did James hesitate? Why would he feel relieved? Harry had pondered this during the entire summer vacation but had come to no conclusions. And now James was sneaking peeks at him then pretending otherwise. Harry was feeling increasingly baffled, he hadn't offended James somehow had he? He had been accommodating on all of James' requests so why was James acting increasingly weird? Should he try using legilimency again? In truth, he didn't like sneaking looks at the thoughts of others, after all everyone had the right to their secrets.

After class, James approached Harry, "Can we talk Harry?"

Harry hesitated only a moment before agreeing, "Alright."

James led the way to a secluded area down the corridor then stopped. "I heard that you are forbidden from entering the Tri-wizard Tournament?"

Harry's reply was open and straightforward, "Yes."

"Because Professor Voldemort is worried about you getting injured?"

"Not entirely," Harry scratched his head, "That's only one of the reasons."

"And the other reason?" James persisted.

Harry could only once again bring out the words he had spoken to Snape yesterday, "I don't actually want to enter the Tournament because I don't like being the focus of everyone's attention."

"You…you're joking right?" James exclaimed in shock, having never imagined that Harry himself would not want to enter. "You… how could you… not like…?"

"No, I don't like it, to be frank, I loathe it." Harry's reply was firm.

"Then… then… last year, you… were surrounded by flowers and applause and praise, you really didn't like it?" James tone grew more shrill at the end of that question, showing his doubt. Harry had been in the limelight all last year but James didn't really see him feeling any aversion to it.

Harry spread his hands helplessly, "If possible I would have preferred to not have been present, it would have been better if it was Voldy instead. You weren't in my position, you wouldn't understand the hassles I went through after that event."

James was speechless. He had been worried about Harry being upset at his being barred from the Tournament but it turns out that he was barking up the wrong tree, Harry wanted nothing to do with any possible fame that might result from the Tournament and his exclusion was right in-line with his own desires. He wasn't quite able to accept this turn of events, unwilling to believe that his interpretation of Harry's thoughts and feelings was so far off. "But, doesn't it make you uncomfortable, that Professor Voldemort arbitrarily made this decision to forbid you from entering the Tournament without asking for your consent or opinion?"

"Not really." Harry shook his head, "He only did that for my benefit so I have no reason to be mad at him."

James was even more dissatisfied as he resentfully turned away, "Oh, that's alright then."

Thoughts turned in Harry's mind before he finally decided to call James back, "James, please wait a moment." He walked up to James and lifted his head, his emerald green eyes glistening and brilliant like a spring leaf covered in dew, "In that last Quidditch match, why did you hesitate at the last moment?"

As though he had been struck a heavy blow, James staggered back several steps, face filling with the discomfort and panic of being discovered, various emotions flashed across his face before he finally appeared nonchalant, "I have no idea what you are talking about. I lost that match fair and square, you are simply better than me at Quidditch."

Harry's eyes suddenly widened in surprise, this boy… how could he… Harry turned his face away, "Is that so, I understand then."

James strode away rapidly, his nails digging into his palms.

Harry watched silently as James walked away, the sheer bizarreness of the situation bringing a bitter smile to his lips, "James, James Potter, how could you… you can only be with Lily Evans…"

**141.**

After that day, Harry took to avoiding James. The two were from different houses and Snape was often at Harry's side, the same for Lily, Sirius and the others being at James' side, even though they would sometimes run into each other while alone, Harry would simply nod a greeting then hurry off without a word. The first few times, he saw hurt in James' eyes but he pretended ignorance because did not know how to deal with a father who had somehow fallen in love with him, a strange feeling of guilt rose in him whenever he saw James and he found it quite unbearable. As time went on, James began to leave even quicker than Harry whenever they ran into each other.

Voldemort was very supportive of Harry's determined severing of his relationship with James, they were after all from two different paths and so they should not force themselves to walk together just to gather some information that may or may not have any use at some point in the future. He was Voldemort, he had no need to use an idiotic, bullheaded boy to achieve his goals. As well, James was only one of Dumbledore's pawns with slightly more potential. "I didn't stop you before because I wanted to let you have your fun, now that you are no longer interested, I of course welcome this new state of affairs with open arms."

One day in October, Harry saw a huge banner as he came up the stairs to the entrance hall, stating that the parties from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons will be arriving around dusk on October 29th and that all students should be present to welcome them. And so discussions that had only just died down resumed with a vengeance, one could hear discussions over the Tournament and speculations over who would be chosen at all times of the day, all the of age students fantasized about becoming the star of Hogwarts. Although he was not entering, Harry was still curious as to who would be Hogwarts champion, he excitedly asked for Voldemort's "expert opinion" but the man replied without much interest, "There's not much to guess at, most likely it will be James Potter from Gryffindor, even though I do not like him I still have to say that his magical prowess is only second to you, he is quite an excellent wizard."

At five o'clock on October 29th the Hogwarts students were led by their heads of house to stand in formation to welcome the soon-to-arrive guests. Harry didn't like standing in the front row so Voldemort gave in and stood with Harry and the other seventh year students. "I don't know why you are being so shy, it's not like the Durmstrang students aren't aware that you are my nephew." Voldemort muttered discontentedly as he wrapped a cloak around Harry's shoulders. It was approaching November and the weather was starting to turn cold, especially at night.

The same as last time, Beauxbatons arrived first, their last arrival at Hogwarts was understated but this time a pale blue carriage as big as a house appeared in the sky, drawing exclamations of surprise from the Hogwarts students. The statuesque Madame Maxime alighted the carriage, students clad in silk robes following behind her, Harry and Voldemort noticed a familiar student at the same time. Red hair, green eyes, curvy body, oh Merlin, it was Sofina Marceau! The only reason Harry had the slightest impression of this student was because she looked a little like Lily. Oh no, she was one of Beauxbaton's best students? Wouldn't that mean that he would have to be stuck at Hogwarts with her around for an entire school year? Harry immediately shrank into Voldemort's arms, praying that the girl wouldn't notice him.

Durmstrang's giant ship rose out of the waters of the great lake, its skeletal appearance and the ghostly flames glowing from the portholes pleasing to the aesthetics of the Slytherins. Karkaroff lead his students off the ship and came to a stop in front of Slytherin house. At this time, Voldemort walked towards them with his arm around Harry's shoulders, Karkaroff bowed deeply and his students bowed with him, "Honored master, I hope you are well. Young master Harry, I wish you a wonderful year."

"I am well Karkaroff, Harry is also well." Voldemort smiled as he pointed at the students behind Karkaroff, "These are your students? They appear competent."

"It is our honor to receive your kind words honored master." Karkaroff appeared very pleased.

"I look forward to a good performance from them." Voldemort continued as his gaze stopped for a moment on a tall Durmstrang student.

**142.**

After entering the Hogwarts Great Hall, the Beauxbatons students sat at the Ravenclaw table, Sofina Marceau, with her red hair and green eyes, immediately attracted the attention of the Hogwarts students, Sofina sat quite close to Lily's location and everyone naturally started to compare the two to see which was prettier.

Durmstrang students naturally sat at the Slytherin table, many of them had already met some of the Slytherins prior to this, some of them were even childhood friends, such as Lucius and the tall boy he was greeting. "Richard! Come over here!"

Richard had a head of curly brown hair and elegant yet not entirely masculine features, his looks were quite average but he had a pair of extremely piercing eyes that looked as though they could stare right through a person. Looking towards Lucius, he nodded lightly then turned to explain the situation to his companions, he seemed fond of bodily expression as his words were accompanied by expansive gestures, the other students apparently agreed with his words as they sat, then he moved agilely to Lucius' side. "Luc, it has been a long time, I had not realized that you are now a prefect."

Lucius smiled proudly, "That's what I was going to say Richard. I had not thought that you would be able to represent Durmstrang, I can't help but be overjoyed at Hogwarts' good fortune."

"Do they know each other well?" Harry asked Snape curiously. It was rare to see Lucius being so familiar with anyone, he was arrogantly distant to almost all the Slytherin students.

Snape searched his memories on hearing the boy's name, "Richard… Richard, I seem to recall that name… ah, I remember. Richard Colson, Lucius' childhood playmate, a Bulgarian aristocrat, I think they still have the title of Baron. They have always got along well but Lucius says that Colson is very rebellious."

"Rebellious? How rebellious?" Harry was still curious.

"How…" Snape thought for a moment, "About the same level as Sirius Black I should imagine."

About the same as Sirius Black? Wouldn't that mean he was rebelling against his whole family? Harry stared at Richard in shock, finding it hard to believe that an aristocrat who appeared to be so well-behaved would do something so surprising.

After Richard sat, Lucius enthusiastically introduced him to Snape and Harry, "Harry, Severus, allow me to introduce my good friend, the only heir of the Baron Colson of Bulgaria, Sir Richard Colson, recently turned eighteen. As he has yet to take over the family business, he is not yet allowed to take on the title of Baron." His smile turned evil, "Richard, I won't need to introduce Harry since you have already had such close contact. This is my good friend Severus Snape, he is also Harry's good friend."

Lucius' words baffled Harry, had he met Richard Colson before?

Seeing Harry's perplexity, Lucius' smile stretched even wider, "Ah, this story should not be told by me, Richard, I think it's time for you to come clean."

Richard was completely unflustered as he answered, a firm yet faint smile on his face, "I do not believe young master Harry remembers me as you were so busy rescuing others, you had no time to look clearly at those you were saving." At his words, Harry immediately understood where they had met before, "Last August 15th, on the night of the Goblin Attack, you saved my sister, Anne Colson, and I at 3:15 in the morning. Afterwards, I regretted that I was not able to thank you in person due to various issues. On behalf of my family, myself and my sister, I would like to offer you our deepest gratitude for everything you have done for us."

"That is not necessary, under those circumstances anyone would have done the same." Harry's smile as a little stiff, he had not thought that he would still run into these situations after more than a year.

Lucius turned to Richard, "I hear from my father that Professor Voldemort summoned you this summer?"

Richard said, "Not just me," He pointed at his dozen or so fellow students further down the table, "They were also summoned."

"Father said that Professor Voldemort commended all of you, he ordered me to learn from you. I have no idea what there is to commend in your attitude and actions?" Lucius' tone was slightly envious. He had always considered himself the best of the best, but on that day he was strongly scolded by his father and told that he must learn from Richard. Learn? From a rebel on the same level as Sirius Black?

**143.**

At his words, Richard did not reply, instead he slowly rolled up the left sleeve of this robe, Lucius' eyes widened as he gasped, "The dark mark?" He exclaimed as quietly as possible.

His words still attracted the attention of both Snape and Harry as they glanced simultaneously at Richard's left arm. On it was a black mark of an extremely life-like skull with a huge serpent coming out of the gaping jaws. This was the first time Harry had seen the dark mark on a student, Voldemort had never marked any of the Hogwarts students before.

Lucius looked at his friend with both envy and respect as he lowered his voice even more, "They…" He pointed his chin at the other Durmstrang students at the table, "Have they been marked by Professor Voldemort as well?"

Richard shook his head, "No. My father spoke on my behalf, as my position is more prestigious, I wished to be marked first, Professor Voldemort consented and they," He pointed at the ravenously eating students with his thumb, "Will be marked the summer after their graduation." He lowered his sleeve, covering the mark back up, "This a great honor for the Colson family, I am the only student who has not graduated yet has the mark, Father boasted to many old friends. I'm sorry Lucius for the hassle this has caused you." He smiled at Lucius apologetically.

Lucius could only smile back, Richard had already apologized, what else could he say. "It's alright, my old man just nags me too much. Really," He continued resentfully, "It is not as though I do not want to be marked, I expressed my intentions to Professor Voldemort a long time ago, I wish to always follow our powerful master, to always be at his side, to do my part in the establishment of a pure magical world," At this Richard suddenly frowned for a moment, though it was quickly smoothed back into an encouraging smile as he silently listened to Lucius, "But Professor Voldemort did not agree, he asked me to wait until after graduation to approach him. My father said that it was because my ability was not enough to move Professor Voldemort to change his mind and mark me early." He sighed, "Which part of me does not measure up to you I ask?"

"Luc," Richard patted Lucius' shoulder in consolation, "You are wonderful, there is nothing that you don't measure up to me in. It is only that Mr. Karkaroff has taken more notice of me recently and has praised me often in front of Professor Voldemort, and so I had made something of an impression on him, Professor Voldemort is not truly aware of the level of my abilities, he only knows that I am the best at Durmstrang. I must admit that the Professor seemed to like me and he praised me lavishly, which made me feel quite self-conscious. After all, when I was summoned this summer, I was present as Professor Karkaroff spoke expansively over my abilities, I was completely mortified. It was fortunate that Professor Voldemort forgave me for not living up to such lavish words and still granted me the mark. You could not imagine, being amongst so many talented people as they demonstrated their abilities to Professor Voldemort, in front of them, my knowledge of Dark Arts and Potions was completely insignificant." As though reliving the embarrassment at that time, his bronze face grew slightly flushed, "Merlin, I didn't know how I was going to make it though that, I felt so ashamed."

Richard's words eased the faint resentment and jealousy Lucius was feeling, restoring his customary arrogance and self-confidence. "That was what I thought, I have known you for many years and we have always been evenly matched. It would be impossible for there to be that much distance between us."

The conversations drew to a halt as the students devoted their attention to stuffing themselves with food, the feast was much more lavish and varied than what was usually offered at dinner, offering several distinctly foreign dishes, Harry also ate more than usual. As he ate he contemplated the mystery at hand, someone like Sirius Black, who sympathizes with muggles, hates pureblood dark wizards, why would he be willing to receive the dark mark? Death Eaters loathe and despise muggles and love dark magic, revel in using dark magic, the two are mutually exclusive. How did Richard Colson navigate between two such radically different ideals?

Harry had not expected Snape to put his current thoughts into words, "Mr. Richard Colson, I recall that you were a muggle sympathizer that hated dark magic, why did you suddenly seek out the dark mark this summer?"

**144.**

Snape had cast a silencing charm so other students could not hear them but Lucius was obviously discomforted by his question.

"I say, Severus, people change…"

"It's hard to imagine anyone changing so much so rapidly. I recall that last March Lucius had mentioned that you had fallen in love with a muggleborn and was willing to break completely with your family over her." Snape's eyes were snake-like as he stared fixedly at Richard, his sallow face icy as he tightly held his wand, prepared to attack in an instant.

The atmosphere grew tense due to Snape's determined attitude, if Richard said one word out of line, Snape's wand was ready to shoot out a deadly green light.

Harry and Lucius glanced at each other nervously, shocked by how quickly things had deteriorated. Such questions should not be asked at times like these, they could have been asked after the feast, but in truth, Snape's idolization of Voldemort went beyond words, the new world painted by Voldemort was something that Snape truly hoped would come to pass and it was also something that he was very willing to fight for, he would not allow anyone to damage the future he was fighting for.

"What clever words did you use to deceive Professor Voldemort? How could someone who was willing to break with their family over a muggle girlfriend suddenly become a member of a group that he hated?" Snape continued his cold interrogation, pressing Richard for his reply.

"Uh, I say Severus, we could…" Lucius hurriedly interjected, hoping to steer the conversation to a less dangerous territory, no matter what, this was not a topic that should be discussed over the dinner table.

Richard stopped Lucius, "Luc, I know you mean well, but I also feel that it would be better if we cleared the air. I don't want Professor Voldemort's favorite Potions Master to have any misunderstandings about me." He smiled mischievously, "My potions have never been particularly impressive."

"So, how should I put it," Richard waved his hands casually, "Well, let us begin with March of last year. At that time I had decided that I was going to spend my life with the girl I loved, but everyone around me tried to stop me, including my dear friend Luc, you were kind enough to write me a dozen or so letters trying to convince me to turn from my path, I am very thankful for that." He grinned at Lucius, "But that did not deter me one little bit, I almost broke with my family," He nodded emphatically at this, "Yes, I was almost disowned. Only one thing stopped that. My mother, she is the most loving mother in the world and she begged my father to delay his decision until after the Quidditch World Cup, so that I could still attend the World Cup as the heir of the Colson family, my mother's dearest wish was for us to attend the World Cup as a family. Then, well, the entire magical world knows what happened that night, I was one of those saved by Harry. I knew it was you," He turned to face Harry, "I had seen your picture more than once, and your portrait, I had also heard of your exploits. But I never imagined that you would be so powerful."

He stopped as though finished and went back to eating, Snape glared balefully at him and even Lucius looked on the verge of fainting. "Richard! Can't say everything at once? You've been playing this game for years, aren't you tired of it yet?"

Richard lifted his head in query, "But I've already finished saying everything I need."

"You… what do you mean?" Harry grabbed tightly to Snape's arm, worried that he was going to shoot an _Avada Kedavra_ at the man.

"As I said, Harry is very powerful and the Order of the Phoenix has no successor that could match him so I went back to my family like a good little boy to be a dutiful son." Richard replied unconcernedly, smiling as though he'd just said something innocuous like "good morning".

"But… but your girlfriend…?" Harry was stunned.

"She only be able live well if I stay the heir of the Colson family and inherit in the future." Richard began to laugh, "At the very least Harry, you are a halfblood born of a wizard and a muggle right? If I follow you, my problem will no longer be a problem. Of course I'm not saying that that's what I'm actually doing, but I'm sure Professor Voldemort knows everything."

This man… Harry was wordless.

Snape put away his wand and went back to eating, Lucius let out a relieved sigh and joined Snape.

**145.**

As they were eating, the heads for the Departments of Magical Games and Sports and International Magical Cooperation had made their way to the staff table, as their arrival had been quite late, not many students noticed them at first, it was not until Dumbledore started making his speech at the end of the feast that the students noticed.

"Why are they here?" Snape asked in perplexity.

"Perhaps to observe the Tournament, after all they did organize it right?" Richard answered before Harry or Lucius could respond, "Maybe they will also act as judges, three judges would be too few and not impartial enough." He was thoughtful.

Dumbledore introduced the two department heads then announced that they would be forming a panel of five judges, along with the three heads of school, to judge each event. After that, he had Filch fetch the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet was the same as before, held inside a jewel-encrusted wooden case, Dumbledore tapped the box twice with his wand and it opened, he then took the Goblet out of the box. The Goblet was unchanged after so many years, a roughly hewn cup engulfed in blue-white flames.

Dumbledore continued his speech, "The Goblet of Fire will be the adjudicator choosing the champions. Any students wishing to become a champion should write their name on a piece of parchment and put it in the Goblet, the Goblet will be fair in choosing the most representative student of each school. The time of making entries will be between midnight on Saturday and midnight on Sunday, after this, during the Halloween Feast, which will be on Sunday night, the Goblet will announce the champions." He then added, "There will be an age-line set and I hope that none of you will disregard it."

Of course most of the students ignored this warning. "How could a cup judge a person's age? Let us see about that!" Many of those originally discouraged by the age constraint perked up at this information from Dumbledore.

On Sunday morning, Snape woke late. Objectively speaking, it wasn't really late, but it was later than usual, Harry was in a rush to see what was happening in the hall, to find out how many Slytherins had put their names in, and most importantly, he wanted to see those cute white beards again!

"Severus, Severus wake up!" For the first time in seven years, it was Harry pulling open Snape's curtains and loudly calling for Snape to wake.

Snape pulled the duvet back over his head, curled up into a ball and ignored Harry.

Harry smirked as a ball of water appeared above Snape's head, Whoosh—

Snape shot up from his prone position and ground his teeth, finally he gave up, got off the bed and went into the bathroom. From first year he had never been able to truly get angry at Harry, those green eyes or an innocent look or a devious or smug little smile always put out the flames of his rage as soon as they started to rise.

"Severus you're sure getting up late today." Harry's smile was smug.

"You woke up too early." Snape was still yawning.

"I thought you would have wanted to wake early, don't you want to hurry up and put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" Harry was puzzled, he thought that Snape wanted to enter, was he wrong?

"I don't want to be the champion." Snape answered, of course he was lying to Harry, the reason he did not get up early this morning was because he had snuck into the Great Hall list night and put his name in after all the other students had left. He would not tell Harry this secret before knowing whether he would be made champion.

The two entered the Great Hall where Lucius and Richard were already waiting, laughing uproariously.

Harry asked, "What are you laughing about?"

Lucius replied, "There was just a Ravenclaw sixth year who drank an aging potion to try and get past the age line, he ended up with a long white beard, it was hilarious!"

"You guys are late, I hear that there have already been four of those since early this morning." Richard's voice was trembling with suppressed mirth.

"Richard, have you put your name in?"

Richard nodded, "Yes, about twenty minutes before you guys came in. All the students from my school came to enter their names as a group. Hm, I also watched Luc put his name in."

Lucius was smug, "With Harry unable to enter, us Slytherins have to live up to our head of house, Professor Voldemort's reputation."

"It is a shame that Harry cannot enter the Tournament." Richard commiserated, "I have always wanted to come up against you in the Tri-wizard Tournament. Oh right," He glanced at Harry, "Do you know Sofina Marceau of Beauxbatons?"

Harry stilled, "No I don't. Why?"

"Nothing really, she was just looking for you, she kept pestering me with questions about you." Lucius answered impatiently, "She is very pretty, but she's aiming a little too far above herself setting her sights on you. However, Bell was smitten so he might have a few words for you."

"If possible, I would prefer it if she fell for someone else." Harry was starting to get a headache.

**146.**

On Sunday evening, the Hogwarts Great Hall was very quiet but the students could all feel the exhilaration in the air. The students wolfed down their food at twice their normal speed, hoping that this would shorten the time until they could learn who the champions would be.

After the plates had all been cleared, the anticipated moment had finally arrived. Dumbledore waved his wand in a great arc, dimming all the lights in the hall and the Goblet's blue-white flames were especially eye-catching in the partial gloom.

Suddenly, the flames turned red and there were sounds of crackling, a tongue of flame shot into the air, pushing out a half-burnt piece of parchment.

Dumbledore caught the parchment and made the announcement, "The champion for Durmstrang is Richard Colson."

Karkaroff was overjoyed and although the applause in the hall was quite loud, it could not drown out his words, "Richard, I knew you would be our champion."

Harry stood up and shook Richard's hand, congratulating him on being the first chosen, "Congratulations Richard, Champion for Durmstrang."

Richard had tried to restrain himself on first hearing his name being read out, but he finally couldn't hold back at Harry's words, "This is a great honor." His eyes were sparkling in his excitement.

Richard left the Great Hall to wait to meet with the other champions, Dumbledore then announced the Beauxbatons champion and Harry's smile immediately froze.

Sofina Marceau.

In the mere two days she had been at Howarts, the green eyed redhead had captured the admiration of countless boys. On top of her outstanding looks, she had pureblood heritage and intelligence, a sunny disposition, the poise of a Slytherin Lady as well as the outgoing nature of a Gryffindor. Even though everyone knew she was deeply in love with Harry, this did not diminish her appeal in any way, because Harry had been avoiding her, this was only the second time the two had appeared at the same location, the dedication of this beautiful girl had drawn attention and commiseration from many of the boys. Bell was one of her admirers and had taken every opportunity to sing her praises in front of Harry, especially the fact that she was a virgin, "A seventeen year old virgin Harry, that is so rare it must be worth a taste."

"I am not interested in her, no matter if she was a virgin or not." Harry had to state this again and again.

Bell shrugged unconcernedly, "Well, she doesn't necessarily intend to marry you either, she just wants you to give her a chance, let her show you what she can do."

Harry wanted to sneer but held himself back, "All girls say that, but they don't mean it."

Bell agreed but still continued, "It doesn't matter what girls think, what's important is what the man thinks. As I see it, she's a follower of Dumbledore from a poor and lower class family, from a not so great school, her only redeeming qualities are her pretty exterior and outgoing nature, to us, especially to you Harry, there's no reason not to be tempted. She will never fit in with the upper class society and her only advantage is that she's a virgin."

"Bell, I'm not going to play with a girl in that way!" Harry responded angrily.

Lucius shook his head, "Harry, you're too proper. It's just some fun and it's quite normal. Putting aside how it usually is in upper class society, even looking at Hogwarts as a whole, it's rare for anyone third year or above to have no sexual experience. It's different for girls as they have to consider their chastity and propriety, but for boys…" His lewd glance towards Harry's nether regions caused the young man to flush hotly.

Harry immediately pulled out his wand, "What do you mean by that?" He was fully prepared to hex Lucius in the same region he was leering at if he said another word out of line.

"Nothing." Lucius immediately denied everything, "I just meant that if you don't take advantage of opportunities now, soon you might not have another chance."

Harry and Lucius had gotten much closer since he had become known as Voldemort's nephew and Harry knows that Lucius understands what is between he and Voldemort. Lucius was intimating that Harry should "have his fun" with some girls before his relationship with Voldemort progresses and solidifies, once he has become completely intimate with Voldemort, he would not be likely to get another chance as Voldemort was known to demand fidelity from his lovers, both mentally and physically.

But Harry could never do something like sleep with a girl just for carnal pleasure, on top of this, Sofina Marceau was a champion and every move she makes would be news worthy, Harry was more concerned with avoiding her than anything else.

**147.**

As expected, James Potter was selected as Hogwarts' champion. The reaction from the four houses were more or less similar, though some were disappointed everyone still cheered loudly. The champion is after all a representative of all of Hogwarts, not just an individual house.

The students were informed that the first task would be held on November 24th.

The next evening, Slytherin house attended the evening celebration held on the Durmstrang ship in honor of Richard's selection as the Durmstrang champion. Harry found that he and Richard had much to talk about as they shared many similar opinions on the topic of muggles. Of course Lucius was not too approving of their attitudes and he brought up the muggle-led witch hunts during the middle ages, "Many witches and wizards were killed at that time." He said, "Wizards were not all powerful, especially then."

Richard smiled as he responded, "Luc, it's rare for you to admit that wizards are not all powerful, you always used to say that we were in the past."

Lucius raised his chin defiantly, "Wizards are better than muggles, there is no doubt about that."

At the same time Harry was exclaiming in surprise, "Lucius, are you jesting? The text books all say that the witch hunts during the middle ages did not cause any harm to wizardkind?"

Snape looked strangely at Harry, "You don't know? I thought Professor Voldemort would have told you."

Harry shook his head, "No, Voldy didn't tell me. Basically we don't talk about muggles." Voldemort talked more about the as yet combat-less war between he and Dumbledore. Muggles were something of an anathema between Harry and Voldemort, right now Harry would not become outright angry at Voldemort for his views and stance but some topics always caused friction between them when they were raised, as no relationship in the world could be able to weather through endless friction and damage, they simply avoided the topic altogether.

"Well then, let me tell you," Richard was smiling as he continued, "I believe I would be able to be more objective in this topic. Simply put, the witch hunts during the middle ages were not ineffective, as muggles definitely possess the ability to harm wizards. That is not to say that they were powerful enough to be able to directly kill a wizard as they were not, with a simple apparition a wizard would be able to turn danger into safety, their advantage were their subterfuge and deceptions. For example, poisoning, taking advantage of a wizard's compassion, using muggles close to the wizards, and so on. Wizards are people too and some things they can't resist or avoid, nor can they always be on their guard against those closest to them or those who appear weak or injured, so at the time, many wizards died at the hands of muggles." He whispered a figure which astonished Harry, "Wizards have never been particularly numerous and that catastrophe set our population back so much that we had not completely recovered even after one hundred years, during that time, the magical world segregated from the muggle world. It was only in the last two hundred years or so that the two worlds began to have contact again. This information would not appear on textbooks as a long time ago, those who were of the opinion that we should renew our relationship with the muggles took control of our world, slowly bringing in muggle trends and practices, and gradually the voices calling for segregation and suppression of muggles become weaker until more and more people believed that muggles were weak creatures that needed protection."

Lucius snorted coldly, "Even now, muggles have the ability to threaten wizards, such as atomic bombs." At this term, unease flashed across his eyes, "It's too dangerous, having such technology in the muggles' control is too dangerous for the magical world."

"Muggles are not weak and they vastly outnumber us wizards. We must completely control them before the bulk of them realize the existence of the magical world, control them, or wizards and magic will become just another part of history." Snape's words were slow and his expression determined.

"That's right, Harry's special sessions last year have plunged many of the magical world's upper class into fear," Richard glanced sympathetically at Harry, "I'm afraid that you only partially achieved your goal."

Harry twisted his lips, squeezing out a smile that was more like a grimace, unable to respond to this. He never realized that the information he had given to the Slytherin students last year had caused many in the magical world to come to the conclusion that muggles are dangerous, unfortunately, many who may have leaned towards supporting Dumbledore may now turn to Voldemort after realizing this fact. He never expected this type of outcome, it was too far beyond his original intentions.

**148.**

On their way back to Voldemort's quarters, the man finally had a chance to question Harry. Putting his arm intimately around Harry's waist, he asked, "Harry, what is the matter? Did something happen? You appeared upset at the celebration. Did some student from Durmstrang say something to upset you? Tell me and I will warn Karkaroff to keep a tighter leash on his students."

"I was with Richard, Lucius and Severus the whole evening, they all know what's appropriate and would never do anything to upset me." Harry immediately denied that possibility, but his wrinkled brows revealed his somber mood.

Voldemort stopped and put both hands on Harry's shoulders, crimson eyes staring directly into Harry's emerald orbs, stopping them from flitting around nervously. "You are lying Harry. You know it and I know it. Come on now, tell me what is upsetting you, if I can I will take care of it for you and if I can't at least I can share the burden with you. You know that I want you to be happy."

The two began to walk again and Harry grabbed tightly onto Voldemort's robe. "The parents of the students know about the things I taught the students during the special sessions?"

Voldemort seemed please, he had always been proud of this, "The students mentioned your sessions in their letters home, but the parents had been dubious without witnessing any of it firsthand. It was not until the students returned home during the summer and demonstrated their powerful and wonderful new magic that everyone was truly shocked. A significant number of wizards started to study muggle physics and chemistry. Harry, you have opened a new path in the creation of magic, you are wonderful!" He couldn't help kissing Harry's smooth cheek at this.

Voldemort's smile was warm and dazzling, at any other time Harry would have been mesmerized but tonight Harry was in no mood to enjoy the sight. "Other than… other than the point that muggle physics and chemistry could be incorporated into magic, were there truly no other thoughts or opinions?"

Voldemort raised a single brow, "Such as?"

"Such as… such as… the atomic bomb?" Harry stood still as their gazes met and tangled together.

"Ah, that is what you meant." Voldemort finally understood what his baby had been troubled by this entire evening. "Yes, the atomic bomb is very terrifying and disturbing. We could never truly rest with such a terrible weapon in the hands of the muggles. If ever there was another wave of witch hunts, then it will not just be thousands of wizards dying, it might be the destruction of the entire magical world."

"But muggles would not use nuclear weapons lightly, even the muggles are afraid of that amount of destructive power so those weapons are more of a deterrent, it would not come to World War III." Harry argued, he was both pained and regretful, if he had known that this would be the result, he would never have made the decision he did at the time.

"They have never used those weapons because they had too little to gain. Harry, do you know that if the muggles knew of the magical world, even if it was only one percent of the facts of the magical world, it would be enough to cause them to come and destroy us. Unicorns, the sorcerer's stone, werewolves, giants, both the good and the bad. The magical world is a both a temptation and a threat to them."

Harry was not convinced, "But how would the muggles learn of the magical world? It's impossible!"

Voldemort crossed his arms over his chest as he sneered, "Do you truly think that?"

"If you're talking about the muggleborns coming to Hogwarts Voldy, they stay in the magical world after graduation, they would no longer be connected to the muggle world."

"Their families are aware of the magical world, what's to say that their families would look favorably on the magical world? Who can guarantee that they will not tell others? Who can guarantee that the muggleborns' school supplies would never raise any suspicions? What about when the muggleborns use words and terms that might cause muggles to become suspicious?" Voldemort was quite worked up, this was the reason he had always raised objections against accepting muggleborn students. "Also, we must still have some contact with the highest government officials of the muggle world, who knows whether these people might attack our world at some later time for their own agendas."

**149.**

Harry was silent as he remembered Aunt Petunia. She had loathed magic almost to a pathological degree, but who could say that she was among the minority in the muggle world? Some muggles just don't show it. Muggles would stoop to anything for their own gain, this Harry was intimately aware of. World War I, World War II, along with decades of non-stop wars and skirmishes, all for some party's gain, muggles would destroy anything in their path to get what they wanted.

Voldemort hugged the silent Harry tightly as he offered soft words of consolation, "Don't blame yourself Harry. No matter what, the military might of muggles that you highlighted is a fact, how could you blame yourself for that? Without you, those who want to rule over the muggles would still exist, your sessions only drew some of the neutrals towards the group of those wanting to attack the muggles. Think of it this way, the information you disclosed pulled more people into my camp, thus less people are willing to follow Dumbledore, this way the war will be shorter and the magical world will suffer less, the muggle world will also suffer less."

Harry hugged Voldemort back just as tightly, words swirling around in his mind yet not one making it out past his lips. There was nothing to be said now, what's done is done and the results were already showing, there was no use in saying anything else. He can only console himself with Voldemort's words, the man was right, what he had done would also benefit the muggles- war will come and once Voldemort won, the muggle world will be the next target, the more the magical world understood about the muggle world, the less wizards and muggles will die, the muggle world will get better after the war- yes, he was only trying to make himself feel better, every time he thought of more and more wizards guarding themselves from muggles, he got upset. He had done something that may be good or bad for muggles and he had really outsmarted himself this time. He really was not someone able to see the far-reaching consequences of different actions, he could not compare to Voldemort or Dumbledore in this and it would be better for him to refrain from enacting any other "clever plans" in the future.

In the following days, Harry became the focus of everyone at Hogwarts. He had been one of the most focused on students since his fifth year but this was different to before, his fame over-shadowing two of the Tri-wizard champions, Richard and James, elevating him to the top of the gossip topics of the students- in the past he could handle all this attention in an understated manner but this time he could not, unless he was able to peel the ever-present, beautiful Beauxbatons champion, Sofina Marceau, from his side.

Harry could avoid Sofina for days but not forever, he would always end up caught by the girl and she would passionately glue herself to his side, murmuring sweetly to him. Sofina was always very gentle and enthusiastic to help and assist Harry in any way possible, as well as making French delicacies and snacks in the kitchen for Harry's consumption. Harry had handled everything politely in the beginning, then he tried to coldly and even cruelly turn her down but the girl did not retreat, even when misty tears appeared in her eyes she still smiled at him. Harry was at a complete loss as to how to handle this, he hated it when girls cried. And so Sofina followed him even more closely.

If Sofina were not a champion, Voldemort would have simply made her disappear, the next best alternatives, such as the _Imperius_, amortentia, a potion that had the opposite effects of amortentia and a lust potion were all vetoed by Harry. "The _Imperius_ is an unforgiveable, how do you propose to use that at Hogwarts? Those potions would cause a dramatic change in her attitude, such a change would definite raise Madame Maxime's suspicions. Forget it, it's only for a year, it'll pass soon." Harry couldn't bear to hurt an innocent girl, she hadn't really done anything.

"I will definitely find a chance to cut off any of her romantic aspirations for you." Voldemort vowed resentfully.

After a couple of days, James was called out of Potions class for the photo session, Harry took no notice of this until he saw Rita Skeeter after leaving the classroom. Harry was astonished that the woman had been assigned to cover the Tournament. Luckily Rita was not buzzing around him this time, instead she had latched onto James, it seems that the jail time had not affected her much. But this vengeful woman was now buzzing around James and might come up with some other twisted and distorted articles.

**150.**

Harry had to approach Voldemort again, both confused and angry, "Why is Rita Skeeter covering the Tri-wizard Tournament? That woman would never write anything good!"

But Voldemort's hands were tied in this matter, "This is not something I can control. On the Prophet's last reader survey, that woman was England's most popular reporter, wizards want her to cover this tournament. And that old fool Dumbledore cast his vote for her despite her previous slander, I couldn't overrule all of them."

"That woman is only good at writing rubbish and twisting the truth!" Harry yelled as he fumed.

"That's true, but it is why wizards like her. She titillates them and they get to read thrilling scandals." At this, Voldemort kissed Harry deeply, trying to ease his mind, "Don't worry baby, I have warned her. She will not write one word about you or I will reveal the fact that she is an animagus and send her to Azkaban for life."

Voldemort's firm reply was very effectively in easing Harry's mind, he was now praying to every deity that Rita Skeeter truly leaves him alone.

"Wait a moment Harry." Voldemort called back his little lover who was in the process of leaving, "Do you want to be James Potter's instructor?"

Harry was bemused. "I don't understand Voldy."

Voldemort smiled as he explained, "It's like this. Even though on the surface the champions are supposed to tackle their tasks alone, in truth cheating is something of a tradition in the Tournament, after all none of the schools want to lose to the others. Each champion receives instruction from the best wizard or witch in the school in hopes of getting the best results. Karkaroff had asked me to instruct Richard and Dumbledore had indicated that he would like for you to give James Potter some instruction when it is convenient. What do you think?"

Almost instantaneously, Harry replied, "No, I don't want to!"

Seeing such a vehement reply from his normally calm and generous lover raised Voldemort's suspicions. James Potter was Hogwarts' champion, with Harry's love for Hogwarts he should have been overjoyed to be James Potter's instructor, but somehow he was unwilling. Not only that but he responded with such a violent refusal! This was not like Harry at all. He was usually a gentle child who never expressed any strong emotions unless seriously riled, prior to the "friendship" game he was playing with James Potter, he had never reacted so strangely to James Potter, even when the other detested him and treated him as one might treat a blast-ended skrewt. Adding this to Harry's abrupt withdrawal from the "friendship" game, Voldemort was sure that something had happened between Harry and James Potter. It was likely not anything too serious otherwise Harry would not be so calm about it, but it was also not something ordinary, otherwise Harry would not react so violently at hearing something to do with James Potter. Voldemort sighed regretfully as he thought how much easier things would be if Harry was just an ordinary seventh year student, he would be able to read the issue directly from Harry's mind using legilimency and learn what had happened between the two. After sulking for a moment, he grabbed Harry's hand and pulled the boy into his lap, holding him tightly to prevent escape, he began his interrogation, "Tell me, what happened between you and James Potter?"

Harry shuddered violently at the question, recalling what he had read from James Potter's mind and how uncomfortable it had made him feel, he lowered his head and remained silent.

"You won't tell me? Then I will go ask James Potter. I'm sure he would be happy to feel my legilimency and _Crucio_." Voldemort continued nonchalantly, at Harry's lack of reaction, he released the boy and made to leave.

Harry panicked as he pulled on the edge of the man's robe. Voldemort was definitely not one for empty threats and he wouldn't care about any prohibitions. "Fine, I'll tell you." He turned his head away in embarrassment.

Voldemort turned back and crossed his arms over his chest, silently urging Harry to continue with his eyes.

Harry swallowed with difficulty before unwillingly informing Voldemort, "He… likes me." At these words he wished that he had never come into closer contact with James Potter, that way James would not have fallen in love with him.

"What?" Voldemort wondered whether his ears were deceiving him as he raised his voice.

"He likes me… he loves me!" Harry finally yelled out dejectedly.

**151.**

For a moment Voldemort was speechless, didn't James Potter… already have a girlfriend? But he fell in love with Harry anyway? That Gryffindor? "I don't believe Dumbledore would like to hear this news." He had always thought Gryffindors were faithful and monogamous but it seems that he was wrong.

"That's why I don't want to have contact with him anymore." Seeing Voldemort opening his arms in welcome, Harry leaned deeply into the man's embrace as he replied despondently.

The man's fingers ran through Harry's soft black hair, enjoying the silken feel, a strategy already coming to mind. "Yes Harry, you will not need to come in contact with him anymore, you do not need to become James Potter's instructor." Here he paused as he smirked evilly, "I will."

Harry raised his head in astonishment, pretty cat eyes round with surprise, "V…Voldy, James Potter is Hogwarts' champion, you really want to be his instructor?" He wasn't going to use this opportunity to destroy James was he?

Voldemort ruffled his little love's hair with some amusement, the barrettes twisting and turning to neaten up the messed up hair. Voldemort appeared quite magnanimous as he replied, "Harry, what are you thinking? I would never do something to James Potter at a time like this. We both hope that Hogwarts wins the Tri-wizard Tournament so I couldn't possibly do anything too drastic. Nor would I really lower myself to the level of that inconsequential little boy."

Harry glanced dubiously at Voldemort, not believing the man's stately words one bit. If he truly didn't mind, his crimson eyes would not be so bloodthirsty, nor would his expression be so vicious, with such an evil, bloodcurdling smile twisting those lips. "No matter what, James Potter is Hogwarts' champion, remember that before you take any sort of action."

"You really have no faith in me." Voldemort feigned a look of dejection as he gazed at Harry but he couldn't hold it as he burst into laughter, "Alright, alright, I will be judicious. He is a champion, what can I do to him? My healing is quite good and I carry a lot of potions with me, he won't suffer too much."

Really? The question lingered in Harry's mind but he decided not to ask in the end. Voldemort had already made his decision and it would be no use to say anything else on James Potter's behalf. He hopes that through this, James would be able to abandon his feelings for Harry, otherwise he might be in for a lot more grief from Voldy.

After snuggling and kissing some more the two continued talking, "I hear that the younger Slytherins are trying to talk you into bedding Sofina?" Voldemort asked unconcernedly as he kissed the elegant line of Harry's shoulder.

Harry's reply was as expected, "You know that it won't happen so what's there for you to worry about?" It surprised Harry that it had taken the man so long to question him about this matter.

"I knew you would try to cover for them." Voldemort scratched Harry's nose indulgently, "Don't let them go too overboard, or I might get jealous. Try to avoid the girl as much as possible, I don't like you meeting with her."

"Alright," Harry raised his hands in surrender, "I'll tell them okay?" Voldemort nodded his acceptance. "I will not meet with Sofina unless absolutely necessary, and if I need to meet with her I will inform you first, alright?"

Satisfied, Voldemort kissed Harry deeply once more before releasing him and allowing him to depart.

The next day, Harry had no classes in the afternoon. To avoid meeting with Sofina, he chose to pass the time reading in the common room. Snape sat with him as he completed his own Potions homework, this essay was on "The Effective Period of the Wolfsbane Potion and Your Evaluation of its Dosage".

Snape could handle such an essay in his sleep and he tore through it quite quickly, though he seemed to be lost in thought as he reviewed the essay. That person… looked at him rather strangely when no one else was looking, he also sniffed at him sometimes, as though trying to discern a particular odor. He heart weighed heavily, afraid that he had discovered something.

"Harry, do you think werewolves remember anything from after they transform?" Snape murmured as though talking to himself.

Harry lifted his head from the book he was reading, "No they don't, this conclusion was reached after researching hundreds of werewolves and it is a recognized fact in the magical world. Did something happen with Lupin?"

Snape felt as chill as he rapidly denied anything of the sort, "No, no, he's… fine."

"I don't believe that he will have any impression from those two nights of the full moon," Harry continued earnestly, "He doesn't remember you Sev."

But… Snape was still hesitant. Perhaps Lupin didn't remember him, but he definitely remembers something. Still, he went along with Harry's words, "I believe so too."

A werewolf wouldn't believe in any memories from while they were transformed once they become human again, after all, those memories would be twisted and vague.

That's probably how it was.


	17. Chapters 152 to 160

**152.**

Bell walked into the common room through the portrait hole, a silver platter filled with fragrant cookies in his hands. "Hello Harry, these were finished just a moment ago, please try them."

Harry shook his head gravely, "Bell, can't you stop making trouble for me?"

Bell seems quite disconcerted as he responded, "Harry, I know you don't like Sofina but what would it matter just eating something she made? They're quite delicious." He licked his lips as he recalled the past treats that had gone into his, Snape's and Lucius' stomachs.

"I don't want to give her any hope, I can't give her anything and so I don't want her to misunderstand anything." Harry finally made it clear, "I mean it Bell, don't do this anymore, it disturbs me."

Seeing Harry so seriously stating his position, Bell finally reined in his own enthusiasm at matchmaking. The Harry in front of him was not just his housemate but the young master of the Death Eaters, Voldemort's lover, nephew and heir. Every word this Harry said must be obeyed. He took back the platter and made a solemn response, "Then should I take the cookies back Harry?"

Harry waved his hand dismissively, "No, there's no need to take them back after you've already brought them here, just don't do it anymore."

Bell stood straight with his head bowed, "Yes Harry, it won't happen again."

"Lucius isn't here today so he'll be missing out, you can share with Sev." Harry couldn't help laughing at the thought of Lucius whining about missing this treat when he returns from Ancient Runes.

"Now that we have Harry's permission, I won't hesitate." Snape immediately grabbed the platter from Bell and stuffed a handful of cookies into his mouth, "Um, delicious, just wonderful."

"Severus, that's mine!" Bell yelled as he rushed at Snape, the two rolling around as they fought over the cookies.

The afternoon might have ended on this light note if not for the beautiful Hedwig flying into the Slytherin common room at that moment, she affectionately nibbled on Harry's finger as she presented him with a letter. The writing on the letter was quite messy, as though the writer was feeling particularly flustered.

_Harry,_

_I need to talk to you. Meet me at the Astronomy Tower._

_James_

James wants to talk to him? Harry's first reaction was to ignore this request. How could he meet with James after learning how the other boy felt? There was nothing for the two of them to discuss. But Harry thought of Rita Skeeter and decided that he should at least warn James about that vindictive woman. Voldemort might be able to restrain Rita and Harry himself can also guarantee that she doesn't try anything on him, but what about James? Even if his family was part of the upper class, they did not have enough influence to shut Rita up. With the Potter family having Rita thrown in jail for that article she did, that woman was sure to exact some revenge on James with her poison green quill. There was nothing for it but to go meet James.

After making sure that the still scuffling Snape knew that he was going out, Harry exited through the portrait hole and proceeded to the Astronomy Tower. Once there he found James waiting for him, pacing in agitation. At the sight of Harry, his already gloomy blue eyes showed more hints of irritation.

"Um, you… wanted to talk to me?" Harry asked before James could open his mouth, appearing quite puzzled as he smiled.

James' tone was explosive as he answered, "You know very well why I wanted to see you!"

"I don't understand James. I thought we were no longer friends, I don't believe anything that I have done recently would have had any relation to you." Harry answered steadily.

"You!" James' rage was fully ignited as he stalked forward until he was only several centimeters away from Harry. "Why weren't you willing to become my instructor, don't you know that this Tournament… how important it is to Hogwarts? I don't know how I offended you, but how could you put your own emotions ahead of what's important, Hogwarts is a part of you too, you are obligated to do your part for Hogwarts' honor!"

His heart had felt like it had been turned into lead from the moment he learned from Headmaster Dumbledore this morning that Voldemort would be his instructor. It hurt so much that he almost couldn't breathe. From the beginning Headmaster Dumbledore had intended for Harry to take on this post, James was completely in agreement with this as he wanted to repair his and Harry's relationship, he didn't want to become a stranger to Harry. But in the course of one evening his instructor had changed from Harry to Voldemort, this can only be because of Harry's own reluctance to take on the post, that was the only reason Voldemort would be taking it on instead.

**153.**

So that was the reason. James' antagonistic questions did not achieve the result he wanted and Harry appeared quite earnest he replied. "James, Voldy is your instructor and I believe that is a very good choice. I believe you are aware of Voldy's ability and level, he is so much better than me, as Hogwarts' champion, you need the best instruction. I don't believe anyone could be better at this than Voldy, his instruction will bring you closer to becoming the winner."

"But… but your thoughts on magic are very revolutionary and your treatment of magical technique is detailed and thorough, in this you are at Professor Voldemort's level, Headmaster Dumbledore thinks so too." James brought out Dumbledore, intending to show Harry that they were all aware of Harry's abilities and that he should not pretend humility.

Harry smiled faintly, "I deeply appreciate Headmaster Dumbledore's high regard of my abilities but I don't feel that it is justified. No matter how good I may be at magic or how detailed and thorough my technique James, I am still a student not yet graduated. In many respects, especially in the experienced wielding of magic, I am far from the level of the established greats, such as Dumbledore and Voldy. And in practical cases, it is experience in the wielding of magic that would be the most important, this is undeniable. It is why even though technique is important in the Tournament, it is the actual wielding of magic that is more heavily observed and judged. Apart from this, the instructor of a champion would need to custom-tailor a set of spell or other magical components for their champion so that they would be able to successfully complete each task, this would require incredible powers of observation and tremendous experience, believe me James, Voldy truly is your very best option in this." After going through several possible scenarios, Harry finally decided on this completely impartial and impersonally approach to convince James without hurting his feelings.

But James didn't seem to have taken in any part of Harry's explanation, in his agitation he immediately responded with his customary distrust of Voldemort, "Voldemort is the head of Slytherin house, he's the master of the Death Eaters, he would never truly instruct me…"

"James Potter!" Harry bellowed with rage as he interrupted James' manic words, his own towering rage forcing him to take a deep breath to suppress the urge to throw a _Petrificus Totalus_ at James, he did however still raise his wand and pointed it at James, "Put away your house prejudices at times like these or I will make you regret it! Do not forget that I am also a member of Slytherin house!" He took another deep breath, "You listen to me, you are Hogwarts' champion and Voldy is both a Professor and a head of house of Hogwarts, he also has great hopes that Hogwarts will win and he would never hold back or not instruct you just because you are a member of Gryffindor house, I can guarantee that he will do his best to help you become the winner of the Tournament. I will not allow you to besmirch his reputation!"

James regretted his hasty words immediately as he recalled that his beloved boy was also a member of Slytherin house, or more precisely, he was the Prince and leader of Slytherin house, as well as Voldemort's heir, meaning that his words would defame Harry as much as Voldemort. He wanted to apologize to Harry, but his own pride and deep seated hatred of Slytherin house stopped him from doing that. Then Harry's words riled him up again. Harry's refusal to become his instructor had already been a severe blow to James, to hear Harry's passionate defense of Voldemort added salt to his wounds and prodded mercilessly at the thorn imbedded in the deepest part of his heart, it was like adding _Fiendfyre_ to already burning embers, the fires of jealousy overwhelmed his remaining rationality and words began spilling heedlessly out of his mouth, "Voldy this and Voldy that, my you two are certainly close! You and Voldemort are uncle and nephew, how could you address him like that? Do you think everyone is blind and can't see what's going on between the two of you? You're just his newest toy and he'll throw you away without a backward glance the moment he gets tired of you!"

**154.**

His heart unaccountably heavy as it was flooded with contradictory feelings, leaving him only with a sense of how ludicrous the situation had become. Harry put away his wand, no longer interested in continuing this conversation with James, no matter how worthy of a son's respect James became in the future flames of war, he was currently a headstrong and immature boy yet to graduate from Hogwarts, Harry had no interest in tangling with him, especially over matters of the heart.

"You have no right to comment on my personal life James Potter." After a year of associating as a friend, Harry has now returned to addressing James as a stranger, wiping away all the faked emotions of before. He turned arrogantly and left James staring at his back, he did feel some annoyance that he was not able to warn James about Rita Skeeter but it was highly possible that James would disregard his warning even if he were to make it.

Before James could succeed in grabbing him, Harry retaliated with a spell to James' body. James felt pain break out all over his body as his hair stood on end. He fell to the ground as his legs lost strength and sweat broke out all over his face as the pain continued.

Harry put down his arm and put his wand back into his pocket, he turned slowly back around. "Just a few volts of electricity, it won't cause too much damage. A small warning James Potter, I know your thoughts," He decided to reveal some things to convince James to put away his inappropriate feelings. "You learned Occlumency last year, but I learned Legilimency many years ago. I am not interested in you and you should not put any further thoughts into me. Oh, I almost forgot, Rita Skeeter is a vindictive woman, with your family tripping her up last time, she might try to get revenge on you, be careful."

A fist hit the granite wall with a thud, blood seeping out and dripping down the wall. The disquieting worry that he had felt over the last two months was finally confirmed, Harry did know how he felt and that was why he was avoiding James. In truth, James understood that he had long ago lost the right to fall for and pursue Harry, he already had Lily and he could not have Lily and Harry at the same time. The Slytherin outlook on love was not suitable for a Gryffindor lion such as himself, Harry's outward gentleness covering his core of steel also ensured that he would never share his lover with another. Harry didn't love him, this fact hurt him and broke his heart, but this was something he had already expected and can endure, he can also accept Harry falling in love with someone other than him, he would even be willing to wish Harry well with someone who could make him happy, but—

It was his rage and his usual dislike for Voldemort's frequent intimate actions towards Harry that had aroused his jealousy and brought forth those ridiculous accusation, but Harry had not denied any of it, nor had he made any attempts to explain- Harry had instead acknowledge them with his silence, acknowledged that he and Voldemort had that kind of relationship!

Evil, dictatorial, promiscuous, heartless Voldemort! Harry was with a man like that!

This James could not accept, how could it be Voldemort? That man had no likeable qualities apart from his pretty face and glib tongue, how could Harry fall for him? James would of course never believe that Harry would be shallow enough to fall just for that, but he also did not believe that Voldemort had anything worthy of Harry's love, after all who was Voldemort? A pureblood supremacist, a despiser and denigrator of muggles, a conceited and self-important maniac, a psychopath who was consumed with thoughts of world domination! Dumbledore would be able to defeat him with ease and break his fantasies, toppling him off his lofty perch in the clouds. And who was Harry? Beautiful, gentle, resilient, strong, humble, elegant, the very picture of a perfect prince, Voldemort was not worthy of someone like Harry, Harry should have someone better to take care of him, someone like Voldemort would only defile Harry! James got more agitated the more he thought on this, what did Voldemort have that Harry fell for him instead of… he punched the wall again resentfully.

**155.**

Rita Skeeter's article on the Tri-wizard Tournament was published five days ago and it was filled with passionate praise for the "Flower of the Tri-wizard Tournament", Miss Sofina Marceau. It praised her hair- luxurious as silk, her eyes- mesmerizing as emeralds, her body- curvaceous and shapely, her nature- outgoing and lively. Rita intimated that Sofina had a dream lover and that he was a most excellent wizard, "She's crazy about him," she said, "That black haired, humble boy." At the same time, at the end of the article, she said. "I don't have high hopes for Hogwarts' chances in the Tri-wizard Tournament, as the best student did not take part in the champion selection process, and the champion that was selected was one that waited around helplessly for another to rescue him. I will reveal more details in the next article."

The next day, countless owls flooded Hogwarts' Great Hall, some of them flew to Harry, carrying letters supporting Sofina. Even though Rita Skeeter made no mention of Harry directly in her article, Sofina's appearance could easy cause the readers to remember the news that Skeeter reported last year, about poor Harry Potter having to let go of the girl of his dreams because she was a muggle and how James Potter took advantage of the situation and got the girl. Like Lily Evans, Sofina Marceau had red hair and green eyes, in her photo, Sofina was even prettier and looked more passionate than Lily did in her photo from last year, also, Sofina was a pureblood, this made the adult witches and wizards that were Harry's admirers like Sofina even more.

"Dear Harry, as a witch old enough to be your mother, I must say, you are seventeen and it is time for you to find a lover who suits you. This girl is quite acceptable, red headed and a pureblood, your uncle will welcome her to your side. I wish you every happiness." "Dear Harry, Sofina Marceau is so beautiful that I cannot even feel jealous of her. But if you don't like her, please use your beautiful Hedwig to send me a letter, my address is XXX. From a girl who has dyed her hair red and changed her eyes to green."

Some of the owls hovered over the head table, in the air above Dumbledore's head. The students had no way of knowing what these letters said but Harry heard from Voldemort, who had "kindly" opened several of the letters for Dumbledore, that at least some of them were writing to protest the fact that Dumbledore had not included Harry in the students to be selected as champions, "You should not have excluded Harry Potter, he is Hogwarts' best student and you should not be prejudiced against his house." "Although excluding Harry Potter allowed your favorite student to become the champion, this only served to make me disappointed over your actions."

The biggest group of owls targeted James who was sitting at the Gryffindor table, some of the fiery red envelops had even started igniting in mid-air as the owls hooted repeatedly. The roaring of the howlers exploded in the hall like peals of thunder, shaking the rafters. "You sneaky thief! How dare you steal someone else's honor!" "You are not worthy of the title of champion, it should belong to Harry Potter!"

The Gryffindor students were all outraged, Sirius grabbed the letter James was reading and tore it to bits as he bellowed, "Harry Potter couldn't enter the Tournament for his own reasons! Why do people treat it as though you had "stolen" his honor? That woman is writing rubbish! James, you need to use your family's power to quash these rumors, let the wizarding public know the truth!"

Lily held James' hand as she gently said, "James, I also do not believe that we should allow Rita Skeeter to continue writing these lies. Even though all the Hogwarts students know the truth, the other wizards do not and this might be detrimental for you."

James snorted derisively, "Sirius, Lily, do you really think telling the truth would have any effect? Saying that "Voldemort forbid his nephew from entering the Tournament due to safety concerns" will be hard for anyone to believe, every parent believes that it is an honor to enter, but one parental figure is worried that a young wizard who became a savior on the night of the Goblin Attack would be endangered and therefore forbid him from entering? People will think that I'm just making an excuse and trying to sling mud at Voldemort and Harry Potter. Everyone's opinion of me will just get worse."

Remus asked concernedly, "Then what will you do? This type of press is bad for you, everyone will compare you to Harry Potter and you will never be accepted, no matter how well you perform."

"I just need to win," James replied determinedly, "Rita Skeeter said that I couldn't win and so I must. As long as I do well, everything else will be fine and people will no longer be able to insist that I can't match up to Harry Potter, nor can they say that I'm bringing shame to Hogwarts."

Rita Skeeter was truly a vindictive woman, but he was not someone who would easily give up either!

**156.**

Although they were supposed to instruct the champions on magic, in reality the instructors only need to hold specific training once the nature of each task is determined. Voldemort, thinking that Harry was unaware, specifically informed him of this, "There's no need to rush, you will know the details after the first task is decided."

On the Saturday evening of the week before the first task was to be held, Harry was revising Potions with Snape in the Slytherin common room, watching as his good friend went on and on, Harry could only bemoan his own lack of talent in learning Potions. For some, no matter how hard they try, they can only watch as another outperforms them by far. Voldemort entered the common room with Nagini and pulled the Potions book from Harry's hands before speaking, "Harry, come spend some time with me outside."

Harry immediately realized that they were probably going to sneak a look at the contents of the first task. This way the instructors will have three days to provide their champions with specialized training in time for the first task next Wednesday. He stood straight away, "Alright." Turning to Snape, he said, "I'm sorry Severus, I need to go out for a while, we'll continue our discussion when I get back."

Snape nodded his acceptance.

The two men and the snake walked for a long time, leaving the castle and the lake far behind them, then Harry heard a vaguely familiar sound. Several growls and roars on a completely different register to that of a human's, as well as the sound of men shouting and running. Far ahead, they could see streams of light, in various colors, interweaving. This was a very familiar feeling to Harry and he grew suspicious, were these three tasks the same as the one he had been through? If so, he was quite fortunate.

"This task seems quite well thought out." Voldemort was quite satisfied. He was fond of difficult tasks as they would be better able to showcase the superior magical might of Hogwarts' students.

[_Oh, oh, even I am feeling a little apprehensive._] Nagini flicked her tail as her dark pupils contracted a little.

Harry patted Nagini's huge head, [_Nagini, I'm sure you're much more formidable than those larger beasts._] He consoled the large snake, his soft fingers indicated his wish for Nagini not to get over excited.

Nagini lowered her head despondently, her amber eyes dulling a little. [_I know, I won't go and challenge those feisty brutes._]

[_They are important props for the Tri-wizard Tournament Nagini. If you want to try your hand with them, I'm sure there will be plenty of chances in the future._] Harry patted her head again soothingly.

Voldemort also tapped Nagini's head lightly, [_It's just a couple of dragons, there's no need for you to become so excited. If you really want to play I'll catch one for you, for now, please behave yourself._]

With Voldemort's promise, Nagini cheered up and slithered towards the three dragons and their handlers in high spirits with her two masters.

A black haired wizard came forward to welcome them, "Honored master Voldemort, young master Harry, good evening."

"Edward, the first task is dragons?" Voldemort glanced critically at the three dragons chained to thick steel posts in front of him.

Edward replied, "Yes master. The green one is a common Welsh Green, the red one is a Chinese Fireball and the black one is the Hungarian Horntail. All very strong beast, as you can see, even while they are tightly tied up as they are at present, we do not dare to venture too close to them. Their flame can reach more than twenty feet, the Horntail's flame could even get to forty feet." He shook his head, whoever got that dragon will be in for quite a bad time."

"What will these dragons be used for?" Voldemort continued his questions.

Edward was not aware either but ventured a guess, "Perhaps one must get past them, it shouldn't be more difficult than that. This time all nesting mothers were used and their tendency to attack is especially high."

As he was speaking his colleagues were bringing in a giant nest, the nest held five eggs and it was placed next to the Welsh Green, which immediately leaned down to nudge the eggs together with her giant head.

"Very interesting." Harry said, "They are very protective of these eggs, anyone with designs on them might be in for a whole lot of suffering." He gloated quite gleefully as he thought about the champions and what they had to do.

"Yes, we must wish them all the best of luck and pray for their safety." Voldemort also laughed at this.

Just before they left Harry asked Edward, "Did anyone else come apart from us?"

Edward shook his head, "No, but I have a friend who knows Hogwarts' Gameskeeper, you understand that the half giant loves big creatures like these," He sneered, "He will be coming for a look a little bit later."

"With his girlfriend." Voldemort snarked, "A very statuesque witch."

The two men laughed. Harry was silent and noncommittal. It seems that Slytherins also despised those with creature blood.

**157.**

"So, the first task is fire-breathing dragons?" Richard's normally composed face had turned pale and he was having difficulty speaking, his voice filled with despair. It was Sunday afternoon and he and Harry were on Durmstrang's ship, Karkaroff having freed a large cabin for them to use for their training.

"Yes." Harry was sympathetic as he looked at Richard. Raised in a pureblood household, Richard was of course very aware of the power of a dragon, but he now had to face one alone instead of with seven or eight other wizards as was usually done, this must be a severe challenge for him.

Richard was speechless for a moment but his expression moved from shock to fear and them back to nonchalance, his voice also got lighter, "Truly worthy of the Tri-wizard Tournament, with the first task already being so difficult. But I am somewhat confident in my own abilities and I am even more confident in your abilities Harry." He smiled, "As you don't appear to be at all concerned or panicked, you must have some strategies, please enlighten me, you are after all my instructor."

Based on his own experience against the dragon in the Tri-wizard Tournament, Harry made a suggestion, "How about a summoning charm? To summon a broom so you can fly past the dragon?"

Richard cradled his chin with his right hand, rubbing his forefinger back and forth over his chin as he considered this for almost half a minute, finally he shook his head dejectedly. "It's a good plan, very manageable, but-" He slowly shook his head again, "I don't fly well. I'm okay on a broom under normal circumstances, but if I was truly tested I'm afraid I might not perform well. I'm not even on a Quidditch team, flying truly is one of my weaknesses."

Seeing Richard's despondency, Harry hurried to reassure him. He had heard that many wizards were not good at flying and usually chose to apparate instead, but he had never actually witnessed it. From the past to now, the boys around him had all been talented flyers, some of them only disliking flying, like Snape, who was still able and willing to ride a Firebolt, so he truly had not thought of the possibility that Richard might not be good at flying. No matter, he still had many other suggestions. "Well, how about transfiguring some animals to attract the attention of the dragon then getting past it? Or using a strong charm to put her to sleep? But I personally am a little wary of these two methods, the first is too uncertain, the dragon may find you more of a threat after all, the second… even if the dragon is charmed to sleep, it might still breathe flame, making it impossible for you to pass." He didn't mention a more effective curse as a way to test Richard, he believed in the young man's intelligence.

Richard considered the matter seriously for several minutes then rejected Harry's suggestions. "No, I need a more effective and quick method. Such as attacking its weak points, I believe that everything and everyone have their weaknesses."

A true heir of an Ancient wizarding family, well coached and educated, and thus able to grasp the main point of the matter very quickly. "Well then, how about a _Conjunctivitis_ curse? The eyes would be the weak point of a dragon, attacking her there would take away her power to attack."

Richard's eyes lit up as he clapped his hand excitedly, "Right! That's it! Great job Harry!"

Harry hurriedly warned him, "You must be careful if you are to use this curse. This time they are using nesting mothers and they are all very protective of their eggs, the condition and treatment of the eggs will thus be heavily regulated, there might be rules penalizing you for any damage to them. So you must be careful in your timing if you are using this curse, to ensure that the dragon does not damage the eggs while she is blind and under attack from you, that might cause points to be deducted from you."

"Harry, you are too thorough!" Richard was filled with admiration for Harry, he had even taken into account the dragon's reaction to the _Conjunctivitis_ curse and the possible effect on the eggs, he had left nothing to chance and taken care of all the details. "It is my great fortune to have you as my instructor!"

Harry couldn't help feeling self-conscious at this, he was not as wonderful as Richard was making him out to be as he was only learning from what Durmstrang had done in his own past and raising it as an example. So he did not respond to Richard's praise and instead moved on to another topic, "Come, let us begin practicing, we only have three days until November 24th, we must ensure that we do our best and that no mistakes are made during the task."

**158.**

James was beaten back once again, his body sliding to the ground like a sack of potatoes. All the bones in his body felt as though they had vanished and he was sprawled out over the floor like a giant slug, the alien feeling of being literally boneless and unable to move bringing so much terror that he almost broke from it. He squirmed with difficulty but was only able to lift his head, which felt like jelly, to stare at Voldemort with burning rage in his blue eyes. He understands that he will be alright as Voldemort would feed him a potion or cast a counter curse after half an hour, but he is convinced that Voldemort is only doing this to see him suffer and watch his humiliation.

His training session began on Sunday afternoon with Voldemort leading him to the Room of Requirements, then beginning a series of "training exercises" that severely demolished his sense of pride.

At the beginning of the session, Voldemort had told him that he would be facing a dragon in the first task and that he had to be well prepared and raise his ability as quickly as possible else he might be beaten by the other two champions. "I believe the best way to raise your ability quickly is to duel, so that you will be able to gain a better understanding of various spells through simulated battles. How do you feel about this?" Voldemort was smiling as he said this, his nonchalant attitude showing his disdain for James and his ability.

James did not raise any objections, agreeing instantly with this proposal. He had long ago wanted to know Voldemort's true strength, to see whether this pompous man was as good as all those Death Eaters made him out to be, whether it was true that only Headmaster Dumbledore could match him in power while other wizards couldn't even come close to them. He thought of his own abilities as more than adequate, in practical DADA, Charms and Transfiguration he had received Os for all of the past six years and he had also been trained by Harry last year, he had also sparred with his parents, relatives and their friends over the summer as well as receiving personal instruction from Headmaster Dumbledore, even though these sessions were rare and brief due to the Headmaster's hectic schedule, he had still gained much from them, thus he firmly believed that he could at least put up a good fight when faced with Voldemort. Also, he did not want to show any weakness to the man, whatever he suggested James would accept, he would never allow the man to see him as weak or incompetent. No matter whether Voldemort knew about his feelings for Harry, he will not let Voldemort look down on him.

But the playing out of the events was completely beyond his acceptance, the difference in power and ability between he and Voldemort was greater than he had believed possible. All his vaunted spells and magic was unable to cause even the slightest wrinkle to the man's robes, he had even tried _Imperio_ and _Crucio_ but when they hit the unflinching Voldemort, they seemed to have no effect whatsoever. From Voldemort's eyes he could see clear and undisguised derision. On top of this, he was unable to put up any kind of resistance or barrier to any of Voldemort's counter attacks, the man's movements appeared slow but the spells were always able to hit him before he could dodge them, causing him untold amounts of pain. Each time, he was taken apart in a different way and each time, it was just as painful, after half an hour, Voldemort would "kindly" restore his health and body through various methods, then five minutes later he would once again be in debilitating pain.

He had never realized that he was so insignificant and his towering self-confidence slowly disappeared under the constant bombardment of facts, his pride had also been smashed into pieces. Was this the distance between he and Voldemort? James felt despair as he again tried to squirm and move with all his might, again he was only successful in raising his head a little and moving his eyes. This was the true might of Voldemort? This was the power of the man Harry loved? James was totally at this man's mercy, unable to handle his attacks in any way, even if his parents, relatives and friends were with him, he was afraid that they would still not be able to make Voldemort even have to move to dodge their spells. A truly powerful man, someone he could never hope to measure up to.

Luckily they had Headmaster Dumbledore, James thought with some relief. The Headmaster would not allow this man do whatever he wants and rule the world, this man might be able to kill everyone else in the world but as long as Dumbledore was around, Voldemort's ambitions will never turn into reality. At this thought he looked at Voldemort and smirked.

**159.**

Gleefully observing James' rage and embarrassment at his powerlessness, Voldemort was finally willing to bring this sorry episode to a close. He pointed his wand at James and chanted a difficult and complex spell. A stream of blue light flew into James' body as the spell was being changed and the young man soon felt his gelatinous body begin to regain its structure and rigidity, as more and more areas recovered he was finally able to move and then slowly stand up.

He tried to move his body around, shaking his hands, cocking his head this way and that, to find that everything had returned to normal, then his courage also returned. "Professor Voldemort, please, continue sparring with me." James would never call for a stop unless Voldemort called for one, he will let the man know that he will not be beaten to the ground, no matter how great the difference in their power level.

On the other hand, Voldemort had lost interest in continuing with this game, after toying with James for an entire afternoon, he had had enough. If circumstances permitted, he would prefer to kill James Potter rather than toy with him- Snape had reported to him that James Potter had approached Harry after Dumbledore informed him that Harry had turned down becoming his instructor, he didn't even have to think to know what this whelp had said to Harry, even though his little one had not said one word to him in complaint. To be frank, James Potter was not in Voldemort's league and he had no chance to compete against him for Harry's affections, whether it was in looks, societal position, personality, power or future prospects, James Potter was far out-matched by Voldemort. Also, Harry did not love James Potter and found James' love for him abhorrent. This whelp was so far below him that he would be debasing himself by taking this too seriously, this is why originally, he had had no intention of doing anything to James Potter before he saw him, he had only wanted to finish the instruction as soon as possible so that he could go back to spending time with Harry. However, when he saw James Potter and learned through legilimency the details of what had happened on that day, as well as those insulting words that he had said to Harry, he had been enraged. How dare James Potter compare his treasured, precious Harry to those worthless replacements that he had used in the past? Harry was important to Voldemort, so important that he would protect Harry with his own life! So this was what a Gryffindor called love, insulting and defaming someone if they weren't loved in return, trying their hardest to destroy the object of their unrequited love.

When Voldemort had read this in James' mind and seen that conversation, the fires of rage burned throughout his chest and there was only one thought left in his mind, to kill James Potter! But in the current situation that thought could only stay in his mind as he could not turn it into reality. Not because he was afraid of the Potter family's revenge or Dumbledore's anger, but because James Potter was Hogwarts' champion and he was representing Hogwarts in the Tri-wizard Tournament, fighting for Hogwarts' honor and glory. James Potter was the second best student at Hogwarts, the only one better than him being Harry, if he killed James Potter, the Tournament would be terminated and Hogwarts' honor ruined, even if it resumed again, he would have to allow Harry to compete to ensure that Hogwarts triumphs in the arduous tasks. So he cannot kill the whelp, he can only toy with him and humiliate him to ease some of his own towering rage. But such activities become tedious and boring after a while and compared to the thoughts of James Potter's murder, they take too long without yielding much pleasure. No matter, James Potter will be spared for now and Voldemort would accept the facts and help this idiot win the Tournament using as short a time as possible, this way he will be able to go back to Harry sooner and also ensure that his murderous rage does not have time to rekindle.

But looking at that face, so like Harry's yet infinitely more irritating, Voldemort's hands itched to hex him. Pushing down that urge, Voldemort said to a recovered James, "I feel that this afternoon's practice is sufficient, we still need to make preparations for Wednesday's task correct?" Ignoring James' flabbergasted face, he continued, "There are many ways to get past the dragon, but I am of the opinion that you should use your best skill rather than sticking with spells or charms. Your flying skills are adequate and so you can fly past the dragon using your broom, that way you will be able to show off your flying skills and you may also get more points for artistic flair, as long as you succeed of course, you should try to complete the task as quickly as possible, that way your scores wouldn't be too compromised." He gave his final conclusion, "Next you should practice the summoning charm until you can easily call your broom to you."

**160.**

It was November 24th and the time for the first task had arrived. Afternoon classes had been cancelled so that the students will have plenty of time to proceed to the designated area. They did not know what they would be seeing and were excitedly discussing the possibilities as they walked. Harry did not participate in the discussions, even when Snape and Lucius directly asked him about it he did not respond with any facts, "Um guys, it's only another couple of hundred meters until you will be able to see for yourselves so is there really any need for me to reveal the truth now?" Of course, not wanting his friends to be disappointed, he did reveal some hints, "Don't worry, the exhilaration will definitely be beyond what you imagined." With that reassurance from Harry, the two boys grew even more excited, wishing they could fly across the remaining distance to the arena.

At the edge of the Forbidden Forest there now stood an arena with towering viewing stands, the students sat in the stands and watched the dragons below, each dragon was separated from the others by heavy wooden boards, the wide expanse of the arena ensured that the champions had enough room to perform. On the stands, Snape and Lucius involuntarily yelled at the sight of the creatures in the arena, "Dragons!" The two glanced at each other, eyes filled with fear and a touch of relief that they were not the ones chosen to face the dragons. "It seems that I will need to pray on James Potter's behalf." Lucius said in jest, "Pray that he will make it through the task with his life and that he will not be burnt to a crisp by the dragon." Snape was in agreement.

There were five special seats in the first row of the stands where the three heads of school and the two department heads took their seats, after a moment, Wilkes left the stand only to return around ten minutes later. He gestured for silence then his ringing voice spread out to every corner of the stands with the aid of a _Sonorous_. "My dear ladies and gentlemen, in another couple of minutes, the first task of the Tri-wizard Tournament will commence. I am honored to be able to provide you all with some details of the task. As you can all see, there are three nesting mother dragons in the arena with their eggs, a golden egg has been placed with each set of eggs, they should be visible if you all look closely. The task for the champions is to retrieve this golden egg. Their success in this, the time it takes them, how easily they accomplish it, the degree of flair in their actions and the condition of the other eggs after the task has been completed will all determine what scores they will receive on the task. Once a champion has finished, the five judges, including myself, will grade their performance and the one with the highest score wins."

"He should just get on with the task instead of going on and on." Voldemort complained impatiently. His somewhat childish behavior caused Harry to chuckle softly.

Sofina was the first to perform her task. The poor girl was pale and looked resigned to her fate. When Wilkes indicated that she could begin, she immediately raised her wand and chanted a spell over and over again, attempting to enchant the dragon into falling asleep. By the seventh or eighth repetition, the eyes of her opponent, the Welsh Green, started to droop and she started to showed signs of drowsiness. With victory in sight Sofina flushed and her eyes filled with joy. After another minute the dragon's huge eyes fell shut and she fell asleep. Encouraged, Sofina crept quietly towards the nest, carefully took the golden egg and turned to depart. At that moment the unexpected occurred and the dragon flamed while still asleep! The students on the stands began to scream and the security wizards rushed to provide medical assistance, but Sofina remained calm and shot a stream of water at her burning robes, putting out the flames.

On Sofina's performance, the two department heads each gave a score of 8, Madame Maxime gave a score of 10, Dumbledore scored her at 9 but Karkaroff only gave her a score of 5. "Completely ordinary, no artistic flair at all and she almost failed." Were his comments.

The second to take on the task was Richard who drew the Chinese Fireball. At his first sight of the huge dragon he appeared a little flustered, but by the time Wilkes announced the beginning of his time he seemed to have recovered. There was nothing to be afraid of he thought, he had made adequate preparations and he would not need to slay the dragon, only get an egg from her nest. He moved slowly and the Fireball's eyes followed him left and right, growing ever more cautious and guarded. As Harry had suggested, he began to move faster and with more emphatic gestures, making the Fireball mark him as being more dangerous and put all her attention on him. After five minutes he succeeded in drawing the dragon out of her nest, only by three paces but it was enough. He raised his wand and hit the dragon's eyes with the _Conjunctivitis_ curse. It was a perfect casting and the dragon's fragile eyes sustained serious damage, making her lower her head and cover her eyes with her comparatively tiny claws as she stamped her feet in pain. Her thick body impacted heavily on the ground, the immense power bringing chills to those watching from the stands. Richard took this opportunity to retrieve the golden egg and get out without a scratch.

Four judges gave scores of 9 while Karkaroff gave the expected 10, Richard had a final score of 46, 6 points ahead of Sofina.

James, the final one to attempt the task drew the Hungarian Horntail. He was very calm, so calm that he did not look like a wizard facing a dragon for the first time. He could face Voldemort without flinching so a dragon was nothing, James thought calmly. As the task began he pointed his wand towards the Gryffindor tower, "_Accio_ Nimbus 1981!" Harry couldn't help a shudder at this, luckily Voldemort, who had his arm around Harry, was too intent on the match to notice. Very quickly the Nimbus 1981 shot through the air towards James who caught it and mounted the broom. He rose higher and higher and the Horntail stared fixedly at him as she straightened. But James was patient and did not rush down immediately towards her, he did as Harry had so many years ago, repeatedly feinted and tricked the dragon, as the Horntail reached the height of her rage and she completely abandoned her beloved eggs and attacked James, he sped ahead at lightning speed to plucked the golden egg from the nest, his movements were beautiful and the whole process was flawless.

"Karkaroff will not give him a good score." Voldemort was smiling as he said this, "He had my approval for that." The corner of Harry's mouth twitched slightly.

Four judges gave a score of 10 while Karkaroff only gave a score of 6 amidst a sea of boos and heckling.


	18. Chapters 161 to 169

A/N: Hi everyone, it's been a while since I've included a personal message so I wanted to slip this in and let all of you know what's up with my life :P

Firstly, thanks for all your wonderful reviews, I definitely read and appreciate them so keep up the good work (hint hint)

Next, I wanted to let you know that I have finally given in to the urge and skimmed the whole story (some of you may recall that I mentioned that one of the ways I motivate myself to keep translating is by NOT reading too far ahead of my translation), but don't worry, I am still fully committed to finishing the translation.

Thirdly, for those of you who have asked, yes the original story is complete and the ending is happy.

Finally, just on a personal note, I have recently been on a translation binge, much like a chocolate or ice cream binge, only I stuff my brain with Chinese words and make it spit out English words, instead of simply stuffing my stomach with food, not that I don't also do that on occasion, it's just that I didn't do it on this occasion. Yes, I'm weird, I know that, but the binge resulted in the double post of the last and this sections, as well as a good start on the following section, so please enjoy!

PS. There be smut in chp 164, thanks to sheep and wyrdsmith for your help in getting the complete Chinese version of the story with smut

HJPHJP HJPHJP HJPHJP HJPHJP HJPHJP HJPHJP HJPHJP HJPHJP

**161.**

Hogwarts tied with Durmstrang in the first task with Beauxbatons in third place. Durmstrang held a mini-celebration banquet, inviting all the members of house Slytherin, even the ghosts, to attend, Richard prepared a bottle of Claret to express his gratitude to Harry, who almost ended up drunk. Gryffindor house was also particularly festive, the celebrations lasting all night with James in the thick of things, the focus of everyone's attention with a beaming Lily beside him, even though he tried to restrain himself from drinking too much he still got completely smashed.

"It's too bad that Karkaroff only gave you a 6, otherwise you would be in first place and not tied with Colson." Lily was leaning docilely in James' embrace as she sighed over this, a butterbeer in her hand. James performed perfectly on this occasion, his plan flawless, but the High Master of Durmstrang had shown blatant favoritism and robbed James of his position of first place.

Like Lily, James was unhappy with Karkaroff's scoring today, he had obviously performed better than Colson but because he was from Hogwarts Karkaroff had been unfair, Durmstrang truly had no good wizards. But at least on the surface, he had to pretend to not be upset, after all it was a joyous time and Lily should be happy and celebrating instead of upset over the unfair treatment he had received. "It doesn't matter Lily, it was only the first task right? There are two more tasks and I am confident that I'll be able to get ahead of Colson and win the Tournament. Don't you trust me?" He raised he brow and feigned an arrogant sneer.

Amused by his antics, Lily laughed and punched him in the shoulder, only hard enough to swat a fly. "Look at that sneer, it's disgusting." Then she turned solemn, "Of course I believe in you James, you're the best."

Their faces drew closer and their lips finally met. They had been going out for a year and the fiery and passionate James had often been unable to control himself, but Lily had always turned him down. With her muggle heritage she had often witnessed indiscriminate sexual liaisons between young men and women, drug abuse, despair and even degeneration, she didn't want to become like those people, at least while she was a student, she wanted to stay away from carnal engagements. When she arrived in Hogwarts, she found that the youth of the magical world were the same as those of the muggle world and she grew ever more vigilant, constantly warning herself that she could not be swept away by the tide of peer pressure, that she must uphold her own standard of chastity and propriety. James supported his girlfriend's decision but sometimes he also regretted it very much.

The Saturday after the completion of the first task, Voldemort announced the holding of a massive Yule Ball at a Slytherin house meeting, informing the students that they would need to be attired appropriately when they attend. The interest of the students was immediately ignited, they had attended balls before had even hosted them, but this was the Tri-wizard Tournament Ball and that had a whole other meaning.

After the students drifted away, Voldemort put his arm around Harry's shoulder and led him to their sofa. "Do you want a partner for the ball?" He asked.

Harry shook his head. He had no real interest in dancing and he was quite bad at it. "I suck at dancing, no girl would want to have me as a partner."

"If it was Sofina Marceau?" Voldemort asked evenly as he looked at the ceiling.

"I don't think it will happen, I think I have made my intentions clear." Harry watched Voldemort with some amusement over the man's continued ire over that girl's behavior.

"If she invites you, you must inform me." Voldemort did not dispute Harry's words, instead he reiterated his request, "No matter if you accept or not, you must tell me, it is my right."

Harry didn't know whether he should laugh or get upset, "Alright, alright, I will tell you." Although he did not believe for a moment that Sofina would invite him, in the past month he and Sofina had had almost no contact whatsoever.

"An adequate performance, but not the best." Wrote Rita Skeeter, "James Potter rode his broom and shot past the dragon, taking the golden egg. It was quite a good showing, enough to receive 46 points, but was it the best that Hogwarts could have shown? My answer is no. As far as I am aware, in last year's Quidditch matches, both times Gryffindor came up against Slytherin (one of these matches being the opening match), James Potter had been unable to catch the snitch. There was one other with better flying skills than he, much better. This person has only attended one year's worth of Quidditch matches and he had already beaten James Potter twice. It is truly unfortunate that that person did not enter the champion selection process, otherwise he would have been able to easily take first place. Rita Skeeter reporting with infinite regret."

**162.**

Rita Skeeter's article caused another storm of accusations against James, one that lasted a full week during which the Gryffindor table was flooded with owls, the scream of red howlers and the echoes of whispered rumors reverberating throughout the Great Hall.

James again tried to quench the flames of Sirius' rage, even though he himself also loathed Rita Skeeter. But right now he could say and do nothing. Rita Skeeter kept throwing Bludgers at him, each word was true so he could not retaliate, but put together, they alluded to certain things, this was what she was best at, and it made it easier to stimulate the emotions of the wizarding public.

Lily was so upset she had clenched her snowy white hands into fists, wanting for Rita Skeeter to appear in front of her so that she could give that woman a couple of punches. "James, you cannot stay silent any longer! That woman is trying to get back at you for your family sending her to jail last time, that has to be it! If you respond, the public will know the truth about the champions, otherwise more and more people will misunderstand you!" Her fists slammed down on the sofa's armrests, her normally rosy, delicate face, pale with rage, "That woman… that woman, she's just too much!"

Sirius had been pacing in circles around the common room like an enraged wolf with no outlet for his rage. He was in complete agreement with Lily's words, continuing to allow Rita Skeeter to write her trash would only result in the destruction of James' reputation. "James, Lily is right, you can't stay silent any longer. That woman is targeting you and she is trying to discredit you, if you don't clarify things as soon as possible the consequences might be disastrous!"

Sirius and Lily had already said everything that Remus wanted to say so he simply added his words of agreement, "James both Lily and Sirius are correct, don't hesitate any more. If Rita Skeeter is truly trying to get back at you, the longer you stay silent, the more you will seem to be silently admitting to the things she's saying."

Peter's chubby face was twisted into a heavy frown, he was worried about his good friend but he didn't know what he could do to help him. As well, for some reason he felt some joy at the sight of James being so completely harassed by Rita Skeeter. He was frantic over these feelings that shouldn't exist, James is a good friend of his and his good friend was in trouble, why was Peter feeling happy over that? But at the same time, a tiny voice inside his heart was strenuously repeating, "Does James Potter really treat you like a friend Peter Pettigrew? He is so arrogant and conceited and he always ridicules you with his superior magical strength! Are you his friend or a clown that exists for his amusement?"

No, no, no, Peter immediately pushed that tiny voice back into the depths of his heart, telling himself again and again that James was his friend, his good friend! To try and forget that voice, he lifted his head, a mist of tears covering his watery eyes, as he steeled himself to speak, "James, they're right, you should act sooner rather than later."

James lifted his eyes and nodded despondently, "Even Peter is in agreement huh? It seems like I really will have to take action."

At the same time, an owl flew into the common room, it was one of the Potter family's numerous owls and it had brought a united decision from the Potter family, to respond to Rita Skeeter's articles to prevent her from continuing to put down James.

The next day, an article "The Truth of the Tri-wizard Tournament" appeared on the front page of the "Magical Times", detailing the happenings of the selection of Hogwarts' champion. It did not mention one word about Voldemort forbidding Harry from entering the Tournament, in sensitive times like these that would just have drawn more negative attention from the witches and wizards reading the paper, thinking that the Potter family wanted to put down Harry, so the article clearly indicated that Harry did not want to enter the Tournament, highlighting Harry's lack of desire for and avoidance of fame and money. As the Harry portrayed by the article was in line with many of the public's impressions of him, many of the outcries against James immediately ceased. Many witches and wizards commended Harry for his unspoiled, pure heart while they lamented James' ill luck. Some started to say, "James Potter is not bad, if he can tie with Richard Colson for first place perhaps he might be able to win the Tournament."

**163.**

"Arry, can I speak with you?"

Harry looked at the subdued, beautiful redhead in front of him, feeling conflicted. In truth, he did not want to have any dealings with Sofina Marceau, what she wants he can never give her and so he did not want to take any ambiguous actions that might give her false hope. But the girl looked so pale and wan, she was a completely different person from the one he had seen on November 24th. Her eyes were swollen as though she had been crying. Harry turned to glance at Snape who smiled in understanding, waved and left.

"Was there something you wanted?" Harry asked as he scratched his head uncomfortably.

The girl shuddered but she did not lift her head, her voice was husky and rough as she replied. "Arry, will you be my partner to the Ball?"

At this question, Harry hesitated, unable to refuse her outright. After deliberating for several minutes, he licked his lips and replied circumspectly, "I believe many boys would be overjoyed by your invitation."

Sofina's head dropped so low Harry could now only see the back of her head. "But that does not include you, correct?"

"…Yes." Harry replied with difficulty.

Harry found the suffocating atmosphere of quite unbearable but he couldn't just leave, even though it would be a good solution. "The truth is… I, I have a lover, I love…"

"I know." Sofina finally lifted her head, green eyes filled with tears that she held tightly back, too headstrong to allow them to fall. "I know you are in love with someone, because you are always so vivacious and happy, as though you are in love."

Harry smiled self-consciously, unable to reply.

"But your love cannot be brought out into the open correct? If it could, someone as honest as you would never treat your love like a dirty little secret or some mistress on the side, correct?"

"Um…" Harry scratched his head again, a little astonished at the girl's astuteness. Perhaps he was just not circumspect enough in his usual behavior?

"If that person could not be your partner for the Yule Ball, can you not give me a chance Arry?" Sofina begged pitifully, "Please trust me, I only want to have one dance with you, just one! I won't hope for more, I am not a greedy person, I… I just want to have one dance with you…" She could not hold back anymore and began to sob, crystalline tears streaming down her face then splashing onto her pale blue silk robes staining her robe with darker blue flower-shaped water stains. "I truly love you, I know that you do not love me but I still love you. From the moment you saved you I fell irrevocably in love with you… but from the moment I saw you again, that look of being bathed in love you had, I finally realized that I was hoping in vain, you already have a lover and you couldn't possibly fall in love with me. But I still tried my best, I don't want to regret anything, I know that you did not like it, but… but…" She was crying so hard she could not continue speaking, only sob. After a while, she recovered and continued, "I have given up, I truly have, now I only want to fulfill the humblest hope of dancing with you once, I promise, after that dance I will stay far away from you, I will not disturb you again or cause you any hassle, will you not grant me this?"

Harry hated to see girls cry, it made him helpless every time. But this was not something that he could compromise on, he only wanted to be Voldemort's partner, in some respects he was quite stubborn and he had to draw the line somewhere. He turned away.

The girl cried harder but didn't say another word, instead she turned decisively and left.

For a while after that, Harry tried to forget the incident, but his mind was still occupied with the issue of being Sofina's partner to the ball. He had gone through the Tri-wizard Tournament and he knew that the champion's partner to the ball was an important role, the champions have to open the Yule Ball with a dance with their partners. Thus each champion must have a dance partner or their position will be very embarrassing, according to history, no champion has ever gone stag to the ball. Harry tried to find out who Sofina's partner was but received the news that the girl was apparently intent on going alone, she had turned down every boy who had invited her. As Yule approached Harry finally gave in.

On Christmas Eve, December 24th, Harry came to Voldemort's quarters to try on his new dress robes. He stood distractedly in front of the mirror as Voldemort took care to smooth away every crease. After several moments lost in thought, Harry whispered his question to Voldemort, "Voldy, would you be willing for me to be someone else's dance partner tomorrow? Just one dance, I promise!"

Voldemort's expression was far from pleasant, giving Harry an urge to run away and escape. "Sofina Marceau?"

Harry nodded his head contritely.

"I knew it!" Voldemort glared at Harry.

Harry immediately begged pitifully, "Just one dance, then I'll come back here with you, is that alright?" He glanced coyly at Voldemort, like a cat trying to sneak a treat.

Voldemort was shocked still, not believing what he had just heard. "What did you say?"

Harry turned around and hugged him tightly, "After the ball starts, we can come back here and dance, just the two of us, alright?"

"Of course." Voldemort kissed Harry's delicate lips heavily, of course it was alright, and afterwards they could do a little something more, right? The night would be long and they would have plenty of time.

**164.**

Hogwarts students were in for a very beautiful Christmas, opening presents after waking in the morning, then a Yule Ball in the evening.

At 7:40, Harry was waiting outside the Ravenclaw common room, he had come to take Sofina Marceau to the ball. Today he was wearing a green robe that was shimmering with a silvery light, the robes had been scented with a musky, pine incense that was a mix of seven or eight components, resulting in a new aroma, Harry could not forget the expression Voldemort had as he had taken in the scent, "Wonderful, very… alluring." Those crimson eyes had been shining with hunger. Harry felt a wave of heat over his body as his mouth dried.

"Arry, thank you for waiting for me." Sofina walked out of the portrait hole, her face filled with bashfulness and exhilaration. She was wearing a pale pink gown, her hair put up in a graceful bun, her beauty made all the other girls behind her pale in comparison.

"You look very beautiful Sofina."

Even knowing that Harry was only being polite, the girl's face flushed with excitement.

Harry danced the first dance with Sofina as he had promised, after completing this task, he hardened his heart, kept his eyes away from the girl's radiant and joyful face, and said, "I must go."

The girl looked like she was going to cry, she quickly lowered her head and several seconds later, when she lifted her face, she was again smiling radiantly as she lightheartedly replied, "Thank you Arry, I will never forget today!"

As he watched Harry leave the Great Hall, Voldemort drew back his gaze and shook Karkaroff's hand, putting a stop to the man's nattering, "I must leave. Enjoy yourself Igor."

When he arrived back at his quarters, Harry was already waiting for him, eyes glistening with moisture and breath slightly uneven. Voldemort smiled and waved his wand, gentle, romantic music began to play inside the room. He walked up to Harry and bowed deeply, "My dear Harry, can I have the honor of this dance?"

Harry looked at Voldemort's hand and smirked, "Well my dear Voldy, I wasn't aware that you knew the female partner's dance steps."

Voldemort paused for a moment in consternation, then he straightened and pulled Harry into his arms, taking Harry's left hand and putting his arm around Harry's waist, "I apologize Harry, but I only know the male's steps."

In the soft, languid music, the two danced. Harry did not know the steps to this dance so he simply leaned into Voldemort's arms, allowing the man to lead him around the room, spinning at ever changing paces. Voldemort's steady heartbeat rang in his ear and Voldemort's musky, enticing scent wafted in his nose, he had never been so content in his life and wished that this moment could last forever, wished that he could spend forever in Voldemort's arms.

After who knows how long, Voldemort suddenly pushed Harry and the two fell into a huge, soft bed, Harry knew that the moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Voldemort expertly divested Harry of all his garments, his teasing lips following his fingers to kiss every inch of Harry's skin. Crimson marks bloomed over the snowy white body, like rose petals floating in milk. Before they were halfway there Harry was already completely consumed by passion, tears leaking out of emerald green eyes as alluring moans emerged from bright red lips, his cock stood straight out from his body and this time Voldemort did not tease Harry. He quickly swallowed Harry's inexperienced cock, making Harry's body jump at the shocking sensation as louder moans emerged from his mouth. The warm, moist cavern gave Harry the illusion of being inside the body of a woman, Voldemort's agile tongue brought him to heights of stimulation he had never reached before, even with Ginny, under the movements of the man's tongue, it felt as though every sensation in his body was concentration in one place, waves of heat and pleasure swept over Harry like electricity, causing him to writhe helplessly like an eerie, seductive white serpent. "Voldy, please… please… I beg you…" His cries and moans were mindless as tears streamed into his hair. The only thought in his head to get release, to spill his seed and reach ecstasy, and so he begged again and again, not know how enthralled Voldemort was by his sultry sensuality as he screamed in overwhelming pleasure as he orgasmed.

Having learnt from previous bitter interruptions, Voldemort did not waste any time, instead he utilized every skill and touch to please Harry, wiping his mind of all thought and turning his body pliable and boneless. While Harry was still consumed by the strength of his climax, a lick finger slipped into his hole, probing carefully. Harry's face flushed crimson as he opened his legs wider to accommodate Voldemort as much as possible, but the love making of before had sapped much of his strength and now hampered his movement. Voldemort smiled at Harry when he recognized what his little Harry was trying to do, separating Harry's legs further with his own knees, pushing his finger in deeper, probing further and swirling around, stretching the tight passage as it pushed more lube onto the dry inner walls. Suddenly the finger swept over a little nub and Harry's entire body shivered. Voldemort withdrew his finger in satisfaction then pushed two fingers back in after casting a lubrication charm… he was going very slowly, Voldemort was able to be patient in his excitement, when four fingers were able to slide in and out with ease, he finally felt that the time was right. He took off his own clothing, his already hard and erect cock causing Harry to stare in astonishment.

It was so… huge, will it really be able to… fit inside him? Harry questioned with some apprehension as he wondered whether he should back out now. But he had no chance to retreat as Voldemort immediately pressed into him, he slowed moved deeper and that intimidating thickness pressed inexorably into Harry virgin passage. He was very careful and he stared fixedly into Harry's face during the entire process, not wanting to miss a single expression, at the slightest hint of discomfort, He would stop and patiently wait for Harry to adjust. When Voldemort's cock brushed against that little nub, Harry's arms tightening crushingly around Voldemort's waist. After Voldemort had pushed all the way in, both of them sighed in relief then exchanged lingering kisses that pushed both into further heights of passion. After obtaining Harry's assent, Voldemort began to move, pushing in and pulling out at varying speeds, rubbing against that little nub every time. Towering waves of pleasure and ecstasy crashed over Harry's body, each push of that cock bringing him endless bliss, he lay bonelessly on the bed, welcoming every one of Voldemort's powerful thrusts with a heart filled with joy, as though he would die without the incredible pleasure of the coming climax. Harry spilled twice more but Voldemort had yet to reach his own peak, he was still thrusting vigorously into Harry's body, engulfed by the joyful pleasure Harry's beautiful body was giving him. Countless times he had imagined the bliss he would feel when he finally thrust inside Harry's body, he now realized that all his past fantasies were nothing compared to the reality. Harry's impassioned face was more radiant than the most beautiful, blooming flower, his sensuous moans more melodious and pleasing than the best music, Harry's pale, delicate body was soft and supple, his tight, grasping passage wrapped snugly around Voldemort's engorged cock, almost melting and consuming him with waves of indescribable pleasure. He couldn't bear to leave the tempting body beneath him, once more, again, he wanted the little one beneath him to show him his most captivating expression. With Harry's raspy sobs ringing in his ears, Voldemort finally reached his climax, spilling his scorching seed inside Harry's body, bathing the soft, inner walls of Harry's body with heat, Harry eyes grew round as his body again tightened, trembling all over as he again crested the peak of pleasure.

Voldemort held Harry and kissed him lightly, soothing him. Such a volatile first experience had almost caused Harry to pass out and Voldemort couldn't help berating himself over his own lack of control, this was Harry's first time, he should have been more restrained!

"Satisfied?" He tried to stop himself from asking, but finally gave up.

Harry flushed crimson from head to toe, but he still smiled joyously as he answered, "Satisfied, very satisfied."

His beauty caused Voldemort's desire to rise again, "Let's go again!" He announced excitedly, Harry froze in astonishment.

After their breathing slowed again, Voldemort's fingers began to wander, "Once more, yes?" Harry bit his lip then agreed.

Harry was so tired he only wanted to sleep, but Voldemort's tongue was curling over the little pink nub on his chest, "I'm still hungry Harry, again?"

"…Alright."

"Harry, you are so beautiful…"

"…..Alright."

"Harry, I love you so much…."

"….hm."

"Harry…."

"Get off!"

**165.**

James had not thought that Harry would be Sofina Marceau's partner, hadn't he turned down that girl from the start? It must be because she has no dance partner and Harry felt bad for her. That was alright, it was better than the pain he would feel from watching Harry beaming beside Voldemort's all evening. He relaxed and devoted his attention to dancing with Lily, Lily was wearing a red gown tonight, the color further enhancing her dazzling green eyes.

After a number of dances, James glanced around and was surprised to see a lonely figure in a corner, long, red hair, green eyes, pale pink gown, Sofina Marceau! How could it be her? Wasn't she supposed to be dancing with Harry? Why was she sitting alone, sipping mead in a deserted corner? Where was Harry? He looked around, searching the entire Hall but could not see that attractive figure, what made him more agitated was that he also could not see Voldemort! That man had been sitting on a sofa with Karkaroff, the High Master of Durmstrang, who was kissing Voldemort's ass, but he had disappeared! James' heart immediately fell, then he was consumed by a fiery pain. Two mutually attracted people, together in a room on the night of Christmas, what else would they be doing? Just the thought that Harry might currently be squirming and moaning under Voldemort was enough to make him want to go and tear Voldemort to pieces.

"James, why are you so distracted?" Lily stood still, James had tread on her toes several times in the last few minutes and she finally couldn't stand it anymore, the last time had been so painful she had cried out, she decided to stop their dancing and find out what James was so preoccupied with.

James' errant thoughts had been called back by Lily's words and he was quite flustered by the faint annoyance in his girlfriend's eyes. Why was he still thinking of him? His Lily was a hundred times better than that Death Eater, at this thought he immediately apologized to Lily, "I'm sorry Lily, I was just lost in thought for a moment, I'm such an idiot sometimes! Shall we get back to our dance?"

Looking around, Lily found that a new song had started and it was not the best time to resume dancing, "Let's wait for the next song to start dancing again, we can have a rest for a moment, then dance, it would feel better!" She laughed happily.

As the two walked towards a quiet corner to rest, Lily suddenly let out a surprised gasp, "Why is Sofina alone? Harry… oh." She suddenly understood, "She might have some regrets but there's nothing to be done about it, Harry already has someone."

"How did you know?" Lily's words were a blow to the deepest and darkest wound inside his heart and he couldn't help exclaiming in both surprise and some panic, luckily the hall was quite noisy and they were in a quieter corner, where no one overheard them. He was afraid that Harry's relationship would be exposed, being both between a teacher and student and somewhat incestuous between an uncle and nephew, such an exposure for a recently of age wizard could have serious and detrimental impact on his reputation, even if that wizard was Harry Potter.

"A woman's intuition." Lily smilingly replied, "I don't know who he is in love with, though many of the girls would give their right arms to find out. But if Harry wants to keep something hidden, it is unlikely that anyone would find out about it. That person must be quite amazing for Harry to fall in love with them." She sighed at this and James' fists clenched violently.

A new song started and the young couple moved onto the dance floor for another round of sweat-inducing dancing.

At midnight the ball ended and the students drifted back to their common rooms. James took Lily's hand, "Lily, come back to my room with me."

Lily froze for a moment, "James, we agreed…"

"Lily, I can't hold back anymore. I'm seventeen, there's only one seventeen year old boy in Gryffindor tower that is a virgin and that is me." He continued pitifully, "I'm probably the only seventeen year old boy that is still a virgin in the whole of Hogwarts."

"But…" Lily wanted to let him down gently but James kissed her and put his hands over her ample breasts. The heat of those large hands caused Lily to pant as she finally understood how desperate James felt, the rock hard erection pressing against her waist also sapped her strength and resistance. She still made one last attempt to push James away and resist his overwhelming passion, "James, you promised me…"

"I'm taking it back." James impatiently interrupted her as he lifted her skirts, long fingers bypassing the flustered girl's obstructing hands to slip into her panties, touching her most intimate folds.

"James!" Lily called out in shock and helplessness, her delicate hands trying to hold her boyfriend's hands in place, but the rising sensations and pleasure had her hooking her arms around James' shoulders to prevent herself from sliding bonelessly to the ground. "James… James… don't… don't… oh!" She held tightly to James as her body spasmed.

"Come to my room, please?" Pulling back his drenched fingers, James took hold of her slim waist and walked towards his room without waiting for her response.

After casting numerous silencing charms on the bed curtains, James held on to Lily's waist and thrust powerfully and deeply into the girl's body, listening to her enticing moans, feeling her inexperienced yet loving movements to meet his every thrust, he was finally satiated and was for a moment, able to forget his deep jealousy…

**166.**

Harry slept well and deeply, when he opened his eyes he had to wrack his brain for a moment to recall where he was. Voldemort's huge bed with its black curtains and silk sheets was not as familiar to him as his own dorm and bed. As he finally recalled where he was, he inevitably also recalled that man's animalistic behavior last night, if that git hadn't also bathed him afterwards as well as given him potions and a massage to relieve his soreness, he would definitely make Voldemort sleep on the ground in punishment. Speaking of that git… where was he? Harry was alone in the bed and when he swept aside the curtains to check, he found that he was also alone in the room. Picking up the snake shaped little clock on the bedside, a gift from Voldemort, he was shocked to find that it was already 10:30. Oh Merlin, it was already that late?

Wanting to put on some clothes after getting out of bed, he searched the room but could not locate a single item of clothing that belonged to him, the closet was full of Voldemort's clothing and the number of items in there was quite astonishing to Harry. This wasn't a closet, it was a clothing shop!

"What are you looking for baby? Your clothes are not in that closet as they were just finished today." Voldemort was holding a bundle of clothing in his arms as he stood in the doorway, smirking as his eyes stared fixedly at Harry's bare chest, doing nothing to disguise his enjoyment of Harry's nakedness.

Harry shivered at Voldemort's gaze and hurriedly tightened the bedsheet he had wrapped around his lower body, worried that it might fall off and someone might be so provoked by the sight of his body that he would immediately be pressed into the bed and devoured. "Throw me my clothes, I want to get dressed."

Voldemort's smile was evil, "You want to get dressed? Then come over and retrieve your clothing."

Harry involuntarily tightened the sheet again, "You… you can just throw it to me."

Voldemort's smirk grew even more lewd- yes, it was lewd, that was exactly what Harry though it was- as he said, "Either you come and get it yourself or you could just go without." As though having just had an epiphany, he snapped his fingers, "Right! I think it would be better if you just went without, yes, better if you don't wear anything," He greedy gaze swept over Harry from head to toe, Harry felt like he had just been licked all over, "I should just burn these clothes."

At that, he immediately turned to leave, Harry had initially thought that Voldemort was toying with him, but seeing Voldemort walking further and further away, he panicked and chased after him, grabbing his clothes from Voldemort's hands, "No, I need to wear these clothes, you can't burn them…"

The next second, he had been lifted into the air and tossed over the devious git's shoulder, within several more seconds he had been tossed back onto the bed, Harry hurried to object, "Hey, I just got out of bed, I haven't even bathed yet, I'm dirty!"

"That's alright, we can bathe together." Voldemort's words were thick with innuendo.

"I'm hungry!" Harry continued to struggle.

"I'm hungry too." Voldemort yanked away the sheet around Harry's waist with one strong pull.

Git! Harry didn't know what else to do, why had he left his wand in his own dorm last night?

"I'm too tired, if we go again I won't be able to get out of bed!" Harry blinked rapidly, putting on a pitiful expression despite not being able to force any tears.

Voldemort finally stopped his ministrations, as though contemplating, "Not be able to get out of bed…" He dragged his words out, as though deeply conflicted.

Seeing some glimmer of hope, Harry nodded repeatedly, "I'm very tired, really!"

"Well then you can just stay in bed. It would be quite interesting to spend the whole Christmas holidays in bed." Voldemort appeared to be quite serious as he said this to Harry.

Interesting my ass!

The extremely sated big bad wolf was finally satisfied for the moment as he carried his thoroughly devoured little red riding hood into the bathroom, they soaked for a while amongst the bubble then he thoroughly cleaned Harry's body, softy massaging it to relieve the muscles tightened by fatigue.

Harry sighed happily, it felt so comfortable. "Next time I want to be on top." He said with a huff.

Voldemort stilled for a moment, then continued his ministrations, "What did you say?"

"I said, I want to be on top next time! I want to top!" Harry declared emphatically.

Voldemort frowned deeply at that but the movement of his hands did not even stutter, "If there was anything I didn't do well enough, tell me and I will do better next time."

"That's not the issue. Unless you think I should just always lie under you and always be a bottom?" Harry was quite dissatisfied by that, "I'm a man too! I'm aggressive!"

Voldemort was silent for almost three minutes, though his hands continued their movements, "You are serious in this?"

"Of course!"

"Alright, we'll let you try it someday." Voldemort acquiesced quite easily.

Satisfied, Harry couldn't help fantasizing about pushing Voldemort into the bed and fondling him all over, not noticing a flash of deviousness cross Voldemort's eyes.

**167.**

Richard was very prudent and did not disturb Harry at all over the Christmas holidays, or perhaps he had come but Harry did not know about it as he was "communicating" with Voldemort in bed, or perhaps Richard had grabbed the opportunity to spend some time with his own girlfriend, who he had not seen for two months. On the third day after the conclusion of the holiday, Richard came to find Harry at the Slytherin common room, not forgetting to bring his girlfriend with him. Harry welcomed his visit, because this would give him something to do and allow him to avoid the leering glances and subtle ribbing of Snape and Lucius.

Richard was very happy to make the introductions, "Harry, this is my girlfriend, Rose Cox. Rose, this is Harry Potter, the man who saved my life."

Harry and Rose smiled at and greeted each other, Rose was very thankful for Harry's courageous actions. This was not the first time Harry had seen Rose as she had been Richard's Yule Ball partner. As Harry had been busy handling Sofina at the time, he had not been able to observe her in detail, even so, Rose's intelligent face had left him with a deep impression. On the whole, Rose was not overly pretty, her brows were quite thick, her nose not quite straight and her lips a little too full, but a pair of intelligent and lively eyes were more than enough to make up for these small imperfections, giving her an intelligent beauty, she and Richard made a very handsome couple.

The moment everyone sat Richard had been impatient to inform Harry that he had solved the riddle of the golden egg, now what he needed was to start preparations for the second task. Harry was not surprised that Richard could decipher the secret of the egg, he was a smart person as well as being more familiar with wizards, such inconsequential riddles and puzzles should not be any real obstacle for him. During this conversation Harry noticed that the young couple's hands were tightly clasped together while their expressions were vaguely worried. Having listened to the song hidden in the golden egg, no doubt the smart couple had an understanding of what they would be facing with the second task, Harry pitied them somewhat.

By the time of their scheduled training session, Richard was no longer able to feign calm, he paced agitatedly around the room, muttering the words of the song as he paced, "_We've taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, and to recover what we took, But past an hour, the prospect's black, Too late it's gone, it won't come back_!"

"So what do you think that means Richard?" Harry feigned ignorance.

Richard stopped his pacing and looked helplessly at Harry, "What's under the surface of Hogwarts' Great Lake Harry? I heard from Mr. Karkaroff that Merpeople reside there. They'll take my most cherished treasure and I'll only have an hour to save her, if I cannot save her within the hour, she… she'll die!" At this Richard's eyes darkened with despair, appearing almost lifeless.

"And your most cherished treasure is-"

"Rose, of course it's Rose." Richard did not hesitate in any way, "She is my most cherished treasure but I will have to watch and do nothing as she is taken away, all because it will be my task to retrieve her as a part of the second task of the Tri-wizard Tournament! But, what if I can't save her? Who knows what it's like under that water? If I truly cannot save her, I… I…" He covered his face with his hands as he moaned in anguish, "I thought that only the champions risked injury in the Tournament, or death, why did it have to threaten Rose, why?"

"Stop, stop it." Harry prevented Richard from wallowing furthering in despair, "Please believe in your own abilities Richard, you are the champion of Durmstrang and your ability is indisputable, trust yourself, you can succeed!"

Harry's words were obviously effective in comforting Richard, he regained some confidence and fell into the sofa, his tightened muscles slowly relaxing. "What should I do Harry? I'll listen to whatever you say."

Richard's behavior had completely dispersed Harry's desire to test him, instead he provided the answer directly and immediately, "I suggest gillyweed, once consumed it will allow you to breathe like a fish underwater for an hour, your feet will also grow webbing, allowing you to swim much quicker, you will also be able to adjust to the cold of the water- the water temperature on February 24th will not be much higher than it is in July or August. Also, it's easy to get your hands on, just ask Professor Slughorn for some."

**168.**

After the DADA class, Harry was about to go back to the common room with Lucius and Snape for a good rest, tomorrow was February 24th, the day of the second task and he was eagerly anticipating watching the task as a spectator, even though he was sure that he would be staring at the surface of the lake like an idiot for an entire hour.

Someone came to look for him with a message from Dumbledore, it was a Hufflepuff student, "Harry, Headmaster Dumbledore wants you to go to his office right way, the password is Fizzing Whizbies." The three looked at each other in puzzlement, Dumbledore had never been one to have much dealings with the members Slytherin house.

Harry arrived at Dumbledore's office to find many people in there, Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, the two department heads, Professor McGonagall, along with Rose and Lily. The Goblet of Fire, wreathed in blue and white flames, sat on Dumbledore's desk, Harry was starting to have a bad feeling about this.

It seems that whenever Dumbledore is present, no one else is ever in a position of command or authority, unless Voldemort was also present. Dumbledore genially asked everyone to sit and offered them a drink. The two girls seemed frightened, their hands shaking around their goblets, the clear, sweet wine tasting no better than poison to them. Harry indolently enjoyed his own drink, growing more and more certain that this meeting was in preparation for the task tomorrow, it was quite a hassle that Harry himself seemed about to become one of the props of the task, and his corresponding champion was also another headache inducer.

"I asked the three of you to come here today for the second task which will be held tomorrow, you three are key to the task. In a moment, Minerva will lead you to your designated rooms for the night, you will have to stay there until tomorrow morning, then you will be taken to the site of the task, what you will have to do is simply wait for your champion to rescue you." Dumbledore had skimmed over much of the details, trying to making the situation seem as simple as possible to reduce the terror of the girls, but it did not seem to have much effect. The girls' stiff bodies and terror-filled eyes, as though they were approaching their deaths, caused Dumbledore to laugh as he decided to reveal some more information to soothe these poor girls, "Now, please believe that we have made adequate preparations for the Tri-wizard Tournament girls, you will be fine." The girls forced out a smile, although their frozen bodies showed no signs of relaxing.

Professor McGonagall led the three students though a maze of corridors, up and down dozens of flights of stair, around and around until all three were completely turned around and had no idea where they were, finally she stopped. They were in front of a white wall on which hung a picture of a broom. Professor McGonagall tapped the broom three times with her wand and said something to it, the wall opened with a groan to reveal a large door, she tapped the door with her wand and it opened, she walked into the room, "Come in, this is where you will be staying tonight."

The three entered to find a fairly large living room with a door on the east and west walls, "The girls' rooms are on the east side, Harry, you will sleep in the room on the west side. The house elves will bring your supper and I will come and get you tomorrow morning." After these succinct instructions Professor McGonagall left.

The girls stood there uneasily, in no mood to examine the room or enjoy the fruit juice on the round table, they were nervous as they wondered what would be waiting for them tomorrow and whether they would be getting through it in one piece.

Harry took the teapot and poured three cups of tea, giving one to each of the girls as he urged them to relax and rest, "Don't forget the reason why the Tri-wizard Tournament was not held for such a long time, because there were too many fatalities, this is why an age limit was set for this Tournament. Even the champions are guaranteed to be safe, how could they do any less for the innocent bystanders? Don't you think so?" He blinked innocently, "At worse, you still have me right?"

His gentle teasing finally brought smiles to the faces of the two girls, Rose was especially free in her laughter, "Right, if Richard fails, we still have you O Great Hero." Lily only smiled faintly, not even able to say any words of agreement, they had moved too far from that first day of term two years ago, even though she still trusted him in her heart of hearts.

**169.**

Striving to open his drooping eyes, Harry woke from his deep slumber. He was underwater and surrounded by the murky blue-grey depths of the lake and the water above his head as pitch black. He was securely tied to a huge stone statue which had a fish tail pointing upwards, this should be the statue he had seen before inside the village of the Merpeople. Faintly, Harry could even hear the singing of the Merfolk: "_An hour long you'll have to look_…"

The rope was tied quite securely and Harry could only turn his head this way and that. He saw that Lily and Rose were tied not far from him, deeply asleep, long hair drifting with the currents. In the morning Professor McGonagall had come and taken them to Dumbledore's office, at around 8:30 Professor McGonagall gave them each a glass of wine and Harry fell asleep not long after drinking it. Harry doesn't know what time it is, nor can he guess how long he has been asleep. If possible, he would really like to know what potion was in that wine, was there anything else in it apart from something that would allow one to breathe while under water? Even his battle-trained and well experienced body had fallen quickly asleep, the potency of the potion was quite formidable.

The waiting was boring and Harry started to blow air bubbles to entertain himself, sometimes the bubbles were so big, they would even obscure his entire face, making everything he looked at through them quite weird, when two distorted and grotesque faces suddenly appeared in front of him, he was truly shocked. He wanted to yell but the bubble broke after it was poked by James, whose face was dark and forbidding, he then aim a malevolent glare at Harry.

The Merpeople gathered and watched with interest, curious over how James and Richard would go about rescuing their targets. At first they tried to untie the ropes binding the girls but the ropes made from seaweed were both solid and slippery and they couldn't get them untied, so they had to waste some time finding two sharp pieces of rock to cut the ropes. Harry notices that James did not have a bubble around his head, nor were his features distorted or transfigured in any way, he had also used gillyweed, Harry wanted to laugh when he noticed this.

The girls had been released but the champions did not rush to leave. "Where's Sofina?" James' face was dark and his tone unfriendly, filled with rage towards Sofina's absence.

Richard was surprised by James' antagonistic attitude, at the same time he was a little disgruntled, however as the two of them were concerned over the same thing, he kept his tone civil as he replied, "I haven't seen her, perhaps she is lost, or…"

"Under attack?" James' voice went from boiling in rage to icy in an instant, "I knew she was unreliable from the first moment I saw her!"

He held on to Lily with one hand as he used the other to cut the rope holding Harry to the rock, it was not easy. The merpeople tried to stop him, "You can only save your own target." They said.

"But he'll die!" James and Richard said simultaneously as they raised their wands and dispersed the merpeople. Then they turned back to determinedly saw at the rope with their rocks. Harry really wanted to them that he wouldn't die as Voldemort would never permit it, nor would Dumbledore, but seeing their determined and worried eyes, especially given how vicious James looked as he was sawing at the rope, he swallowed his words and stayed silent.

A long time after the rope had been cut (or perhaps it was only a couple of minutes, who knows), Sofina finally arrived. Wrapped in the bubble of air, her forehead was covered in sweat and her eyes were red-rimmed. She didn't even take any time to catch her breath and rest her exhausted body before she wrapped her arms around Harry, "Thank heavens Harry that you are alright! I got lost and the grindylows attacked me, I thought I would not make it in time, I thought… thank heavens that you are alright…" She was on the verge of tears but they didn't fall in the end.

James let out a heavy, disapproving grunt, took Lily and floated towards the surface without another glance at Sofina and Harry, Richard smiled at Harry before taking Rose and swimming away. Sofina took Harry's hand, "Harry, we should go to the surface."

"But you're so tired…" Harry glanced at the sweat covering Sofina's face.

"There is not much time, we cannot dally any longer."

The surface of the lake was as distant as though it was in another world, Sofina tried her best to swim higher faster but it was still pitch black over their heads, her breathing grew labored and her limbs were heavy as though tied down with weights. Harry realized what condition she was in and suggested, "Let me swim up and take you with me, we can switch back when we reach the surface."

Sofina's eyes brightened but she quickly and resolutely shook her head, "This is my Tournament Harry, I believe I can do this." As though she had taken a strengthening potion, she immediately sped back up.

"Harry, this is my last bit of willfulness." Her voice was so low Harry couldn't hear a word she was saying, "Coming to rescue you was my last bit of willfulness, I will never bother you again. I promised Madame Maxime I wouldn't."


	19. Chapters 170 to 181

A/N: Sorry for the late update, I have been really busy with tidying up my home these last two weeks, I swear, my stuff must be having lots of sex and making baby as I seem to have too much stuff that don't seem to fit in any of my cupboards or closets. I've finally made some headway on this so I will be devoting more time to the translations again, hopefully I will get through two or three sections this week.

Please note, there will be a significant time skip after the Tri-wizard Tournament.

**170.**

As Sofina pulled Harry past the surface of the water, he immediately saw Voldemort who stood at the edge of the water. His brows were deeply wrinkled and his lips were pursed into a severe line as his right hand clenched around his wand and he kept glancing back and forth between the watch in his hand and the surface of the water. Seeing Harry break the surface, he immediate pointed his wand toward him and Harry felt a great force dragging him towards Voldemort.

Voldemort took Harry into his arms and wrapped a huge, soft, warm woolen blanket around him, then put him onto a conjured sofa, not giving Harry time to say a word, even if it was his name, bottles of potions were immediately placed in front of Harry. A certain someone's threatening gaze silently tried to intimidated Harry into consuming all of them and Harry could only hold his nose and swallow each one. Next Voldemort rushed to shoot drying and warming charms out of his wand, one after the other, Harry was almost dizzy as he watched the man's bustling form. After less than three minutes, Harry was dry and warm from head to toe, so warm he was even finding the blanket wrapped around him a little stifling.

Sofina was the last champion to complete the task and her score was also the lowest, only 45 points, James and Richard were once again head to head with 49 points each, now it was up to the last task, which would be held on June 27th, to determine the final victor.

That evening, Harry once again slept in Voldemort's quarters. Once again, Voldemort was the dominant aggressor, after several "warnings" Harry didn't dare try for dominance anymore in their lovemaking.

He didn't understand why Voldemort was so desperate for him, as though Harry would disappear any minute, the man's thrusts were so powerful and passionate he could only hold tightly to Voldemort' shoulders, worried that he would slide right off the bed otherwise, he could only take much needed breaths when Voldemort infrequently released him between commanding kisses to prevent himself from passing out from lack of oxygen. What was the man angry about now? That was Harry's last thought before he passed out after Voldemort shot his essence into Harry's body.

Carefully pulling out of Harry's body, he took his kittenish, adorable lover into the bathroom and bathed him, then he applied potions to his abused opening and passage to prevent soreness when he woke the next morning, finally he gently massaged the fatigued muscles for thirty minutes before he laid down and pulled Harry into his arms before falling asleep- the whole process took over an hour but Voldemort was so gentle that he did not disturb Harry's sweet slumber.

The potion allowing them to breathe under water was only effective for two hours, but everyone seemed to expect that the champions would be able to rescue their target within the time limit- Sofina almost failed in this, when she brought Harry to the surface the two hours had just passed. What if that stupid bint had been just a little slower? What would have happened to Harry, unable to breathe under water and without a wand? What if that idiotic woman had given up in the middle of the task? What would have happened to Harry, tied to a statue and without a wand, waiting for rescue? Those merpeople didn't care if a wizard lived or died.

The two questions were like two whips striking repeatedly at Voldemort's heart, filling him with guilt. When the Goblet had first chosen Harry as Sofina Marceau's target, he had agreed to Harry's inclusion, thinking back it was like he was confunded, no matter how powerful Harry was, what could he do underwater, unable to breathe and without a wand? That lake housed the giant squid and grindylows!

Even though he was been a little paranoid in these thoughts- Richard and James Potter had both been there underwater and they would not have left Harry there without any safety measures, but he still had not been able to control his thoughts from wandering to other scenarios, those frightening, maddening scenarios lingered in his mind even now. He had left Harry's side twice and both time Harry had faced life-threatening danger, even though he had come out safe both times, did that really mean Voldemort was guilt-free? Why did he have to leave Harry's side instead of staying with him? Why did he always leave? For work? For his ambitions? Did any of these damned things compare to Harry? Hadn't he sworn to always love him, care for him and protect him- was this caring, loving and protecting?

Voldemort involuntarily tightened his arms, Harry, still deeply asleep, murmured soft complaints but leaned docilely even further into his embrace, rubbed his face against Voldemort's chest, and went back to sleep, he looked completely adorable, like a purring kitten curled up in his master's arms. Free of the barrettes, the short black hair was messy yet unimaginably soft, Voldemort couldn't stop himself from carding his finger though it, the soft, silky strands falling silently from his fingers. Voldemort's heart softened and filled with tenderness and gentle love.

"I will never let go of your hand again Harry."

June was approaching and the atmosphere at Hogwarts was getting more and more tense, not only because of the coming decider of the Tri-wizard Tournament, but also because of the OWL and NEWT exams. This time the exams are being held three days early to accommodate the Tournament, ensuring that the champions will be able to devote their attention to the third task after having already completed their exams, it was also arranged that the Bulgarian and French examiners were invited to Hogwarts, both to administer the exams to the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students, and to watch the final task of the Tournament.

In the past Harry could have been said to have dropped out of Hogwarts as he had not taken his NEWT exams, this time he was able to complete his NEWTs and fulfill one of his dreams. But the tenseness and helplessness he felt over the exams had also caused him to hassle Voldemort endlessly.

On June 27th the third and final task of the Tournament, a maze, was held. Harry watched from the stands, relieved and gratified as James walked out with the Goblet held high in the air, Hogwarts had won.

On July 1st, Harry took his graduation certificate from Dumbledore's hands, he had graduated.

On July 30th, Harry received his NEWTs results, nine Os, meaning that his dream of becoming a St. Mungos healer was now a reality.

[Time skip next chapter]

**171.**

Harry felt the sheets beside him, they were still warm, telling him that Voldemort had left not long ago. Harry morosely wondered whether he would see the man when he got back tonight.

Get out of bed, bathe, change, go downstairs for breakfast.

[_Good morning Nagini._] Harry offered the giant snake a lighthearted greeting, she tangled around him dotingly, her bright red tongue tickling his palm, cheering him immensely from his low spirits.

[_Good morning Harry, have you seen Voldy?_] Nagini released Harry and slithered over to her own tray which held a large bowl of milk and two slices of just grilled beef.

Harry twisted his lips, [_No, I haven't. He seems to have just left._] He lazily pushed the salad around his own silver plate.

[_He seems to be quite busy recently._] Nagini cocked her head innocently, as though completely unaware of anything unusual.

[_He is always busy Nagini._] Harry corrected Nagini in a deliberately placid tone, [_He is just more busy recently._] He sighed a little.

The man and snake stared at each other for several seconds then looked away. What will come will come, no one would be able to stop it.

After finishing breakfast, Harry put on muggle attire then rode the subway, then walked to Purge and Dowse, Ltd., to the ugly dummy dressed in outdated clothing he said, "Harry Potter, Healer." When the dummy nodded to indicate its confirmation, he crossed the storefront and entered St. Mungo's Hosptial for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Walking pass the increasing number of people waiting in the front hall, he came to the staff room at the end of the first floor, an entire wall of the room was covered with portraits of healers, Harry found his own portrait and tapped the date plaque underneath it with his wand, notifying everyone in the hospital that he was at work. On the way he was greeted by many witches and wizards, "Good morning Harry." From a colleague who had join the hospital more than a year ago. "Good morning Head Healer Potter." This from a new staff member who had joined St. Mungo's less than a year ago. "Good morning Healer Potter." This from a patient. Harry smiled at and greeted all of them in return.

After leaving the staff room through a set of double doors, Harry arrived in front of the magical elevator. Six months ago, when he became Head Healer, he had strongly recommended that the newly invented elevator, which functioned much like its muggle equivalent but was run on magic, be installed, he couldn't bear the agony of walking up and down seven flights of stairs numerous times everyday anymore. He tapped the elevator with his wand and entered the lift after the doors slid open, tapping the number 7 on the control panel, the elevator shot upwards then stopped with a ding as the number 7 on the panel dimmed.

After exiting the elevator, Harry opened the third door on the left. On the door was a bronze plaque which read "707 Head Healer's Office", this was Harry's office. He changed out of his muggles clothes and put on his white healer robes in the changing room and when he came out he saw seven or eight paper planes on his half-oval desk. These were requests for Harry's consultation today, status reports on Harry's existing patients and lists of items requiring his attention. Harry sat in the comfortable, wide and soft sofa, which was covered with an afghan, to quickly read through the messages. First was today's list of patients and their statuses, Harry marked the names with the more serious conditions then refolded the paper planes and tossed them into the air, thee wavered back out the way they came in. Next he read through the items requiring his input today, finding nothing that really required his personal attention, he refolded the planes and sent them away as is, he believed that his smart secretary Rose Cox would know what to do. Finally, he looked through the ones detailing the condition of his existing patients, some were recovering well while others weren't, having gotten the gist from the messages, he put the parchment into his pocket and rode the elevator back down. He will see his patients first, then he will go on his rounds.

It has been three years since Harry's graduation and many things had happened in the intervening years, Voldemort had dissolved the uncle/nephew bond between he and Harry and they two had come out to the public as a couple, Harry had become a St. Mungo's Healer and had risen to the level of Head Healer with his superior healing ability, wonderful technique and kind nature, Harry had killed Peter Pettigrew- a decision that had puzzled Voldemort to no end, James and Lily had become engaged and planned to marry in six months, under Voldemort's recommendation Snape had become the DADA Professor at Hogwarts, Lucius had become a member of the Wizengamot as well as taken over some of the management of his family's businesses and last month Harry had gone to his and Narcissa's wedding.

Time flies by so quickly.

When Harry returned to the staff room, two of the intern Healers under him were already waiting there for him, "Head Healer Potter, the patients are waiting for us in their rooms on their respective levels."

"Alright then, let us go see them."

Another hectic yet fulfilling day had begun.

**172.**

After seeing his patients, doing his rounds, eating lunch, giving more consultations, and doing more rounds, it was 16:30, time for afternoon tea. After becoming the Head Healer, Harry was no longer required to do additional shifts or overtime so his afternoon tea usually lasted around half an hour, as a way to pass the last of his time before he left work for the day.

Warm sunlight, rare for London, permeated the entire room, soft, soothing music accompanied the clear voice of the vocalist as the sound drifted through the air, his whole body was relaxed into the dragonhide sofa as he ate some delicious cookies and drank a strong tea with milk, sweeping away the toils of the day.

At 17:00, Harry changed back into his muggle attire and prepared to return home when he ran into Stelly Moore, Director of the hospital. Rather than ran into, perhaps it was more appropriate to say that she was waiting for Harry in front of his office. "Harry, do you mind delaying your departure for a couple of minutes?" She asked with a kindly smile.

"Of course not Madam Director, I'm happy to be of assistance. Is there something you require?"

Director Moore's kindly smile faded away and her round, plump face became more solemn and stern than Harry had ever seen, "Harry, is everything… normal, with Mr. Voldemort?"

The air around them suddenly seemed to heat up and become unbearably stifling, even the breeze that wafted around them became suffocating and sweat began to seep through the back of Harry's shirt.

Director Moore remained unconcerned even at seeing Harry's eyes becoming increasingly guarded, "I have no wish to probe for any sort of information or clues, I would just like to have some clue as to when the war might be likely to start, so that St. Mungo's can make the necessary preparations to perform our healing duties without being overrun." Her expression was both sorrowful and resolute as her voice grew lower, "The Order of the Phoenix has already started to make preparations for war, I would think the Death Eaters are also doing the same."

Harry lowered his eyes and shook his head, "I don't know Madam Director. I never involve myself in those matters and Voldy never discusses them with me."

Director Moore gave Harry a deep look rife with meaning as she smiled enigmatically, "Ah, that's right, it was inappropriate of me to ask that question given your nature." She paused, "In the centuries since St. Mungo's was established, the hospital has gone through countless wars, but Harry, every side of all the wars have had nothing but praise for St. Mungo's. Do you know why?"

"… Because St. Mungo's always maintains neutrality Madam Director, this is also why I wanted to come to work at St. Mungo's." Harry's reply was calm, his tone firm.

Director Moore was obviously very happy with Harry's reply and gave him a kind, maternal smile, patting Harry's shoulder, "Harry, you are the youngest Head Healer in the history of St. Mungo's, in the future you are also very likely to become the youngest Deputy Director or even Director of the hospital, I have faith in this. When I made the decision to make you Head Healer, it was not your powerful background, nor your worldwide reputation that convinced me, it was your superior ability as a healer, your tireless, studious attitude, your calm and resilience, these are the qualities that a first class healer must have but they are also the hardest for anyone to possess and excel at, but you have done so and done so very well. In this past year, your work has not disappointed me and I am very pleased, I am proud to have had you as a student.

Even while he was lying on their huge bed in Voldemort Manor, Director Moore's words kept running through Harry's mind, he had a bad feeling about this.

The first thing Voldemort saw when he came out of the bathroom was Harry staring fixedly at the bed canopy, thinking about who knows what. He pulled all the clothing off Harry's body and covered his naked body with his own and asked offhand, "What are you thinking about baby?" Though his thoughts were really only consumed by Harry pale, smooth body, outstretched beneath him.

Harry watched silently as the man moved over his body, after a moment, a question popped out of his mouth, "Voldy, when is the war going to start?"

Voldemort lifted his head in surprise and joy, "Harry, since when are you interested in such things? I am of course happy that you want to know. The preparations are almost complete, in…"

Harry covered Voldemort's mouth with his hand, stopping him from continuing, "I changed my mind, I'd rather not know any of it." His arms wound around Voldemort's neck as he smiled sweetly, "It's been two weeks since the last time, don't you miss me?"

"Oh… Voldy… there, right there… harder… harder… oh… that feels so good…"

Harry was kneeling on the bed with Voldemort behind him, thrusting heavily into his silken passage, Voldemort's each powerful, deep thrust caused him to let out loud moans. Another powerful thrust pushed Harry over the edge, causing his inner muscles to spasm and contract, the movements of his fiery, silken walls caressing Voldemort's cock, pushing him to his own climax.

"I love you Harry." "I love you too Voldy."

**173.**

"It's cloudy with some drizzle…" The muggle television in the living room was broadcasting the London weather report and the world seemed to be at peace. That afternoon, the sky over Voldemort Manor was covered by dark clouds that appeared ready to break out into rain at any moment. Harry walked up to the window and couldn't help feeling gloomy after looking at the overcast sky.

Almost six months had passed since his talk with Director Moore, the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix were still just moving their troops around and making preparations, and the beginning of the war seemed to be quite distant, this almost drove Harry, who had been apprehensive ever since that conversation, crazy. Sometimes he almost wished that the war would begin right away so that he would no longer need to be on pins and needles.

An owl flew in the open window, carrying with it a short letter to Harry, Director Moore wanted to see him at St. Mungo's in half an hour as she had an important announcement to make. Harry frowned deeply, today was his day off and for the last three years he had not been called in to work on this day, but now…

In thirty minutes, Harry had arrived at the hospital, but he found the large staff room completely filled, every healer and employee was present. Director Moore waved him over and indicated that he should sit next to her.

Harry walked over as he heard her say, "I asked everyone to be here today to announce several things. The first is that Head Healer Harry Potter has been promoted to the position of Deputy Director of St. Mungo's Hospital as of today, he will also be taking over the duties of the Director, secondly, the position of Head Healer will be taken by Allan Fielding, thirdly and finally, I would like to announce my resignation from the position of Director of St. Mungo's Hospital."

If the first piece of news surprised Harry, the third and final announcement absolutely astonished him. He noticed that everyone present demonstrated a similar level of astonishment as he, it seems that Director Moore had not notified anyone of her intentions beforehand.

"Harry, as Acting Director, please say a few words to everyone." Director Moore patted Harry's shoulder as she looked at him with encouragement.

Harry could only comply, steeling himself to say whatever words he could come up with at the spur of the moment, "Greetings everyone, I am Harry Potter and I will be taking over the duties of the Director from today… I hope you will all work with me in dedicating ourselves to ushering in another glorious chapter in the already incredible history of St. Mungo's Hospital." Harry was shocked at his own eloquence in his currently rather bemused state, he was surprised that he was actually able to speak clearly instead of standing there like a dolt.

After this, he looked towards Director Moore, habitually awaiting further instructions, she only smiled, "You are the Acting Director Harry."

"Rose, please take care of the necessary procedures, I will take care of any necessary items when I come to work tomorrow. Well then… this meeting is adjourned."

The wizards and witches all left, completely bemused, only Stelly Moore and Harry remaining behind.

"Director Moore… Madam, I think we need to talk." Harry immediately said.

Stelly Moore agreed, "We can go to your office."

At the seventh floor, Harry opened the door to room 707, "Please Direct… Madam."

Stelly shook her head, "Harry, that is not your office, that is now Allan's office, he is the Head Healer now. You are the Deputy Director and Acting Director, your office is that one." She pointed to room 701 at the end of the hall, the Director's Office.

Harry felt quite awkward sitting behind the desk in the Director's chair. He fully believed in his own abilities and potential to become St. Mungo's youngest Deputy Director and even Director, but not like this, not after he had only worked for less than three years. Such a rapid and abnormal rise only served to make him feel strange and disquieted. "Madam Stelly, why have you suddenly made such an absurd decision, I thought you loved being a healer? Or have you encountered some problem or trouble? If there is anything I can do for you, I would do my best to provide assistance."

Stelly waved her hands dismissively, "I have sufficient reason to resign from the post of Director, this is also why I need to speak with you." She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, "St. Mungo's is neutral. No matter which side its employees may lean towards, be they the Order of the Phoenix or the Death Eaters, once inside St. Mungo's, they must be neutral, without even a shred of personal leanings or preferences."

Harry listened quietly, he was beginning to understand.

"But right now, I find that I am leaning heavily towards one side, of course, this would not affect my impartiality in treating patients, but- I have decided to join the side that I support and fight for my strongly held beliefs, thus I must resign from my post."

**174.**

"Originally, I had wanted to promote you directly to the post of Director, after all, your abilities are sufficient for the post. But taking into account your less than extensive experience, promoting you to such an extent might offend many of the more experienced healers, so I made you Deputy Director as well as Acting Director, you are well qualified for this post and there is nothing they can say about your promotion. Allan is an honest man, dedicated to his work and he will be a great help to you, if you are uncertain about anything in the future, you may discuss it with him. I believe that, after the war, if you are still willing to stay at St. Mungo's, there will be no objections to you becoming Director."

Stelly's words silenced Harry for a long moment, "I… am very grateful for your belief in me and my abilities, but… have you been considering this for a long time?"

"Yes, but I only made my decision several days ago."

"…Is it because the war is about to begin?" Harry doesn't want to think this way, but the facts are giving him no choice.

Stelly admitted this without any hesitation, "War is imminent, the fighting might break out at any moment."

"Then, we will need to make preparations for war right away?" Harry's thoughts were a jumble, he had never done such things before, nor had he really understood the running of St. Mungo's even though he had worked here for three years, how could he do such detailed and extensive work impeccably?

Stelly chuckled in a kindly manner, "Don't worry, there's no rush, you can begin tomorrow. War will not break out tomorrow, nor in the next three to five days. But it will be necessary to make detailed and comprehensive preparations in the time you have. In truth, the preparations you will need to make at this moment are not too numerous, it is when war has broken out that things will be more hectic Harry, you will have to be prepared for this."

The next morning, three people were sitting in Harry's new office, Harry, Allan and Rose. Allan was fifty-five years old with a head of short, curly red hair and pale grey, solemn and sincere eyes, he was 187 cm in height and he weighed 269 pounds, he was a kindly, portly gentleman.

"Given Director Moore's words, what we need to do now is to go into War Preparation Mode in secret." Allan said.

"Um, do you mean that St. Mungo's already has set procedures for war?" Harry was unfamiliar with the term Allan mentioned.

Allan slapped his forehead in reaction, "Oh Merlin, I forgot that you are still unaware of these things. On the top shelf of the book case is a book… "St. Mungo's War Time Manual", right, that was it, on page 79 the war time preparations are listed, you may look it up there."

Harry took the book that Rose had retrieved for him, turning immediately to page 79 and reading it with the curious Rose. "Secret Restoration of the Passage of Wartime Peace… what is the Passage of Wartime Peace Allan?" Rose asked.

"That's St. Mungo's back door."

"St. Mungo's has a back door?" Harry and Rose asked at the same time. Rose was genuinely shocked, in the years that she has worked at St. Mungo's, she has never heard that there was a back door to the hospital, Harry's surprise however, was feigned, he was of course aware of this back door as he had used the Passage of Wartime Peace many times in his past war.

"Don't be so surprised! What hospital wouldn't have a back door?" Allan puffed out his chest and rotund belly to express his ire over being interrupted by two youngsters, as he continued to berate them paternally, "Every hospital has a back door, but at St. Mungo's, our back door has a special purpose, it is not just for people to escape through."

Harry and Rose listened attentively.

"St. Mungo's back door is connected to a five hundred meter long tunnel, it is paved with pale blue tiles painted with the St. Mungo's emblem, a wand crossed with a bone to make a cross. The roof of the tunnel is deep blue, this is the Passage of Wartime Peace."

Rose immediately interjected, "But why have Harry and I not heard of this passage Mr. Fielding?"

Allan chuckled, "Silly girl, how many years have we been living in peace? During peace time only the Directors of St. Mungo's learn of such things. It is only due to my decades of friendship with Stelly and the current deteriorating conditions that I have heard her mention the passage occasionally. Don't mistake my words for familiarity as I myself have never seen this passage."

"Then why do we need to open it again in secret? Everybody knows that war is about to break out." Rose asked.

""About to break out" is not the same has actually having started. The Passage means that war is imminent or already here, but at this moment neither side has openly declared war, opening the passage publicly would cause panic in the populace and would not benefit the magical world one bit. It is only when one or both sides have declared war that we can openly declare the opening of the Passage."

Allan nodded approvingly at Harry's words, "Harry is right, I have nothing further to add."

**175.**

"Alright then, what is the actual function of the Passage of Wartime Peace?" Rose continued her questions. The name of the passage was quite imposing, would the function be just as meaningful?

This stumped Allan, "I'm not sure, only the Director is qualified to know this."

Harry turned the next page, "It's written here." He read out loud, "When war breaks out, if the wounded of either side of the conflict require healing at St. Mungo's, they must enter the hospital through the Passage of Wartime Peace. From the moment any witch or wizard enters this tunnel they may not attack others in any way, anyone who goes against this rule will be sent to Azkaban, serious offenders who cause injury, disability or death shall be sentenced to the Dementor's kiss."

… "That's it?" Rose said disbelievingly.

"That's it."

"Then I have another question." Rose's face was incredulous as she continued. "I find this rule very unreasonable and possible unenforceable. Firstly, although we will of course station wizards in the passage, but once a fight breaks out, how effective will a few wizards be? In such a narrow area it would just make things worse. If there's a fight, we can't very well ask the healers and medi-wizards treating the wounded to leave their patients to take care of the fighting can we? Secondly, even if we catch the offenders, Azkaban will be in the hands of one side or the other by then, would it be possible for us to ask them to have their own people sent to Azkaban or even be given the Dementor's kiss?"

Rose's questions highlighted the crux of the matter, pointing out the precarious situation they would be facing in the future. But in the eyes of Harry, who was well-experienced in matters of war, these were not valid problems. During war time, the Passage as well as all the buildings of St. Mungo's enter a warded status, only allowing St. Mungo's healers and employees to work magic, this is related to their St. Mungo's uniform robes as they negate all anti-magic wards, as to how and why, Harry was up to now unaware. As well, St. Mungo's will have their own contingent of Aurors protecting the hospital- this would take care of Rose's first concern. Rose's second concern was one that also intrigued Harry once upon a time. In his past, Voldemort had control of Azkaban, but all the Death Eaters sent there by St. Mungo's still had to serve their sentences. To his queries, Professor McGonagall had once replied, "A hospital that could stand for hundreds of years must have its own strengths and power, one should not underestimate it just because it appears harmless. Neutral is in truth another force, in certain respects, it might be the most powerful force." Not well versed in politics, Harry had only vaguely understood these words, Hermione understood completely but did not deign to explained it to Harry.

Allan waved his hands, "Rose, don't worry. What we are discussing now are the secrets of St. Mungo's over many centuries, this is something that only the Director should know. But as Stelly had not informed Harry of these things before she left, you and I will have to find out what the war time procedures are and how to put them in place, then we will have to do whatever is within our power, as to why those things should be done, how they could be possible, and how to do the most important things, Stelly will definitely tell Harry in secret, if, after careful consideration, Harry deems it necessary that we should know these things, he will tell us, don't you think?"

"… you're right Mr. Fielding." Rose had to admit that Allan's words were reasonable. If these secrets were at the level of the Director of the Hospital, as a mere secretary, she naturally does not need to know their details.

"Harry, apart from the opening of the Passage, is there anything else that needs to be done?"

"Yes. We need to copy the "St. Mungo's Neutrality Act" and try to post it at a visible spot in every room, as well as on every wall of the first floor entrance hall, post ten copies inside the passage. Also, covertly increase the number of wards and beds… as well as increase the number of staff. When the war starts, our current number of healers will not be enough, we must recruit new healers and staff both from the magical schools and the public."

Allan rubbed his chin, troubled, "Recruitment might have to wait until after the war starts, otherwise we would have no excuse to lower the recruitment standards. It seems that we will be extremely busy and overworked in the early stages of the war."

When Harry returned home from work, he found an owl delivering a letter from Stelly. On the parchment was written a long spell, used to activate the Passage of Wartime Peace, it also detailed the anti-magic wards used during times of war, the Passage was paved with anti-magic tiles, but St. Mungo's anti-magic tiles also had a neutralizing layer that could be de-activated with a special potion, finally she wrote, "During times of war, the thing that wizards need the most is healers, and the best healers in the world are at St. Mungo's. That which we rely on the most and as a final resort, is the wisdom and efforts of our elders, located in the basement."

**176.**

"Harry, Harry."

A familiar and dear voice rang in his ear, waking an unwilling Harry who rubbed his eyes fuzzily as he asked, "Voldy, what's the matter?" It was 2:05 in the morning.

Voldemort lifted him and apologetically replied, "Harry, I'm afraid that you cannot sleep any longer tonight."

Harry's attention was instantly caught, driving away the bulk of his drowsiness, Voldemort's words brought one thing to mind.

"Right now, in the west side of muggle London on L Street, a hundred of my followers are battling with members of the Order of the Phoenix, the battle should end in about twenty minutes. I will declare war to the entire magical world at that time." Voldemort's crimson eyes were sparkling, after the interminable wait, he could finally take the first step towards fulfilling his long awaited goals.

The concise words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Harry's head, immediately driving the remaining drowsiness from his system. His body felt chilled but his heart seemed to be on fire. No matter how conflicted and undecided he had felt, reality had made his choice for him, war had broken out and as the Deputy Director and Acting Director of St. Mungo's, there were things that he had to do.

He jumped off Voldemort' lap and rushed to the fireplace, throwing in some floo powder, he stuck his head into the flames and yelled, "No. 43 A Street!" Very quickly he saw a four poster bed with pale gold curtains, "Rose, I need to speak with you!"

After some rustling from behind the curtain, Rose walked towards the floo, dressed in a robe she asked Harry in surprise, "What is it Harry? Why are you in such a rush to talk to me?"

"Listen Rose, call in all of St. Mungo's healers and staff, they must all be in the front hall on the first floor in ten minutes. Any wizards not present in ten minutes will be fired and will never be employed by St. Mungo's again." Harry was glad to see the enlightened expression on Rose's face, he further confirmed her speculation, "Dear Rose, the war has started."

After informing Rose of the situation, Harry rushed into the bathroom, rushing back out after five minutes. Walking towards the floo, he did not forget to kiss Voldemort on the cheek before he left, "Bye dear, I'll try to come back home soon."

Voldemort muttered, "You shouldn't have joined St. Mungo's Harry, you would have had a much more leisurely time at the Ministry of Magic."

Harry waved his hand dismissively at Voldemort, rejecting the thinly veiled suggestion, throwing some floo powder into the floo, he clearly said, "St. Mungo's Hospital." This might be the last time he used the floo network before the end of the war.

Harry didn't like using the floo because every time he was so dizzy he became nauseous. If it wasn't for the anti-apparition wards on Voldemort Manor, and that the time it would take for him to fly to St. Mungo's on his firebolt was so much longer than using the floo, he would never resort to such a method of transport. When he crawled out of the floo, completely disoriented, he was almost hit by Lily, who was following closely behind him.

"Harry, what is it?" Lily was panting as she asked, "Why are you calling all the healers and staff together in such a rush is it…" She was a shrewd person, even though James tried his best to keep her out of things, there were too many people in James' group and the slightest carelessness would leave clues, so she was more aware than most as to what was going on.

Harry gave a strained smile, "You'll know soon enough Lily."

Within the appointed time, all St. Mungo's healers and staff had arrived, there were a total of 100 healers and 30 other staff. Some of them were baffled, some understanding, some were worried and some excited. Harry transfigured a small wooden stage and stood on it with Rose, the sounds of murmuring immediately disappeared.

Harry solemnly swept his gaze over the entire hall, only after confirming that all the wizards were paying attention did he begin, "Ladies, gentlemen, I called you all here today to announce something important, the war has begun."

This news turned all the wizards on their ears, they looked at each other, not wanting to believe what they had heard. One witch frankly questioned Harry's words, "Harry, do you have any proof? War… this is big, you can't just go and say something like that!"

Harry nodded gravely, his voice lowered, "Mina, it's true. I believe that the Wizarding Wireless will be announcing this within several minutes, as well as- Voldemort's declaration of War."

These words convinced all the doubters. The entire wizarding world knew the nature of Harry's relationship with Voldemort, with Harry's words that Voldemort will be declaring war, there was no further possibility of a mistake.

Harry continued, "Therefore, St. Mungo's Hospital has now entered war time status, we have our own battles to fight. But before that, I must make this clear to all of you, St. Mungo's is neutral and will not lean towards either side in the war. Accordingly, no matter which side each of you agree with in your hearts, as long as you are within St. Mungo's, you must remain neutral. You may do whatever you like with your time outside of work, but the moment you step inside St. Mungo's, you must consider everyone equally with no preferential treatment or prejudice whatsoever, no matter if a patient killed your parents, spouse, children, siblings or friends, you must do your best to save them without delay. That is the professional and ethical code of all St. Mungo's healers and employees. At the same time, you must do your best to protect the confidentiality of your patients until the war ends. If any wizard here believes that he or she cannot do this, you may leave within the next thirty seconds, otherwise, any contravention after today will cause even the lightest offender to be sent to Azkaban."

Some wizards left without hesitation, some left after some consideration, but some decided to stay after considering the facts. Within half a minute, there were 73 healers and 26 staff left.

**177.**

This number was much higher than the minimum Harry had expected, he was especially pleased that all the senior healers had elected to stay. "As you have all decided to stay, this means that you have accepted what I have asked of you, I hope that you will all remember the choice you made today." He paused, "I, Harry Potter, am very glad to have the honor of working with all of you, I looked forward to working together with all of you in the coming times and to fighting side by side."

Allan responded to Harry on behalf of all the other wizards, "As you said Harry, that is our job, and our professional ethics, it is what we should be doing. We are St. Mungo's healers and our job is to do our best to help every patient."

Harry nodded approvingly, he tapped some parchment with his wand then waved it, two pieces of parchment appeared in the hands of every witch and wizard. "Healers, in your hands is a list of all the wards you are responsible for, currently it is three times the number it was before the war, in future that is sure to increase, the second is your roster, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, we must ensure that there are sufficient healers at St. Mungo's at all times. Staff, in your hands are your duties and your roster. Also, from today, everyone should be prepared for overtime to be necessary." He lifted his wrist to glance at his muggle watch, 2:23, very soon the first patients will be arriving. "Alright, that's all for now. Healers should proceed to their posts, the two healers on duty in the emergency ward will proceed with Allan and I to open the Passage of Wartime Peace. Rose," He turned to her, "Inform the staff of their duties and try to have all the preparations completed before the injured arrive." He took a vial of potion out of his pocket and passed it to Rose, "This task I want you to complete personally. Put one drop on the floor of every room then put the remaining potion in the locker in my office." He instructed carefully, Rose nodded back confidently. "Don't worry Harry, it will be done."

Harry turned on the Wizarding Wireless in the hall, then he led Allan and the two on duty healers Jo and Fred to the back door of St. Mungo's, officially opening the Passage and preparing to receive the first visitors.

At 2:25, the midnight show, "Muggle Castaway" was suddenly interrupted, the voice of the most popular host of the Wizarding Wireless, Ketty, came on. Ketty had a wonderful voice, sweet, clear, almost as attractive as a siren, that's why she was deeply loved by the wizarding public. But at this time her voice was dry and raspy, completely different to her usual dulcet tones, it sounded empty and colorless.

"Ladies, gentlemen, loyal listeners of the Wizarding Wireless, we are about to make a most important announcement. At 2:05 this morning, on L Street in the west side of Muggle London, the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix engaged in vigorous fighting, the battle lasted for around twenty minutes and resulted in 18 fatalities and 45 injured. For a more detailed report, please join us for the 6:30 news report."

Harry silently calculated, the number of fatalities was not too high, of course, this could be because both sides have yet to deploy their best fighters. Far behind him, Jo and Fred exchanged a terrified glance, their already tight backs becoming even stiffer.

"Next, Mr. Voldemort will be making an announcement." Ketty continued in a rasp.

Voldemort's speech was powerful and concise, while containing a hint of bloodlust, "Wizards of the magical world, I hereby announce that from today, for the honor and pride of all wizardkind, for a brighter and more wonderful future of the magical world, my followers and I will sweep away all obstacles in our path. We will conquer the muggle world, protect the dignity of all wizardkind and lead the magical world into a new, brilliant future."

At 2:27 patients began to arrive via the Passage. Some of the wizards and witches had apparated or flown to the hospital on their own while others were brought by their comrades. Some covered their faces with the hoods of their cloaks while others walked in brazenly. At war time, the Passages was bisected by a wall, to ensure that neither side could see the faces of patients from the other side, symbols hung on the entrance of each side of the passage- a skull with a serpent coming of the its gaping jaw and a phoenix in flight, at the end of the tunnel were four healers, Harry and Jo were on the Death Eater side and Allan and Fred were on the Order of the Phoenix side, after preliminary treatment the patients were transferred directly inside St. Mungo's using magic, maximizing the privacy of both sides.

The wizards arrived almost at the same time, immediately overcrowding the normally wide passage, luckily they lined up in an orderly fashion. The patients were transferred inside the hospital after simple treatment and the responsible healers made discreet marks as to where they should be relocated for further treatment in accordance with patient confidentiality.

The first wave of patients were not too gravely injured and after emergency treatment Harry and Allan returned to the hall. At this time, the hall was filled with bustling people, not only the recently arrived patients but the patients already at the hospital were also getting out of their beds to see what the fuss was all about, some asked to shorten their stay and others asked to be discharged immediately.

"I preferred the St. Mungo's of before." Allan murmured.

**178.**

During the 6:30 morning news announcement, Dumbledore made his own declaration of war, it was also announced that during the battle earlier that morning, the Death Eaters had 7 fatalities and 20 injured. After that a flood of owls carried Ministry printed booklets to the public, some of the contents Harry had seen in his past, such as minor personal protection spells, instructions for underage wizards on appartition, advice not to leave home for no reason, etc., the bulk of the patients diligently read through the entire booklet.

After this was a steady flow of patients, it was only with this that Harry learnt that there had been five skirmishes in that one day, affecting numerous innocent civilians, three children under the age of ten staggered in with their parents for treatment.

"How could these people do these things, even harming children!" Lily was holding a young wizarding child, upset that he had been hit in the arm during a fight between adult wizards, the child sobbed softly. His parents were still being treated in the intensive trauma room so it was unclear which side had caused his injuries, the Death Eaters or the Order.

Harry sat down beside Lily, gently watching her movements, as more harsh and cold words came out of his mouth, "That is what war is Lily, in war the weak and the young are often the most grievously wounded. The adults are usually too consumed by their fighting to be concerned over the protection of the children, children can only try to grow stronger and minimize their chance of being injured." That is also the only way children will be able to protect themselves.

"Then why must we have war? Why must we indulge ourselves and disregard everything but our pursuit of our own desires?" Lily growled softly in frustration, in her mind Voldemort was an irredeemably evil man.

Harry lowered his eyes, why must there be war? There were many reason, different viewpoints, ways of thinking, targets and goals… the two leaders each had their own steadfast reasons, and if compromise was not possible then they can only attempt to destroy each other. "Where there are people there are conflicts, when conflicts cannot be resolved they lead to war, this is an unavoidable fact. Neither Voldemort nor Dumbledore were satisfied with the status quo. They are both domineering people and the existence of the other is a thorn in the side to them, a thorn that they must remove. The only difference between them is that Voldy is more used to taking the offensive while Mr. Dumbledore is more accustomed to reacting." To achieve true peace, one of the two must fall and not rise again, otherwise the neither of them would be willing to exist while the other was around. He did not notice that he had used the word "domineering" to describe Dumbledore, this was an aspect that Voldemort often attributed to the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Lily sneaked a glance at Harry and muttered inaudibly, "No, Headmaster Dumbledore is not like that." Harry must have been with Voldemort for too long and been deceived, that was the only reason he would see the Headmaster like that. Headmaster Dumbledore is a kind, forgiving and gentle elder.

Harry was not supposed to be on duty until the coming Monday, so although the war broke out today, he did not need to be on duty, after working until 9:00 in the eving and seeing nothing further that needed his attention, he apparated to a location near Voldemort Manor. Riding a carriage back to the Manor, he was welcomed home by Voldemort, who put his arm around Harry's shoulders and concernedly asked, "Have you had dinner yet?"

Harry nodded then shook his head, "I ate some but there were just too many patients."

"Are you tired?" Voldemort entered the dining room with Harry and indicated to the house elves that they should bring dinner.

Enjoying the massage Voldemort was giving him, Harry was almost falling asleep where he sat, "Of course I'm tired, how could I not be? The number of patients we had today was more than the number we had in the entire last week."

When the house elves bought dinner, Harry wolfed down the food, not even bothering with the manners that had been learned during his time in Slytherin House. He was starving as he had only eaten a slice of bread and a salad since noon that day, for dinner he had only had a glass of pumpkin juice, his stomach was way past empty.

"Is it good?" Voldemort asked with a smile.

"Delicious." Harry nodded emphatically and said through a mouthful of food.

"Then have some more." Voldemort waved a hand at the house elves who bought another platter of steak. He continued to smile as he watched Harry eating ravenously. "Being a healer is hard work isn't it Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"You can't eat on time and the work is strenuous."

Harry nodded again as he rubbed his eyes, he was getting a little sleepy, as soon as he finished this plate of food he was going to take a bath then go to bed.

"And then you have to endure the complaints and nagging of patients' families."

Harry continued to nod. Such things had come up many times before and would keep happening in the future. He really was quite tired, perhaps he should go straight to bed?

"So it would be better if you resigned right?" Voldemort said, "A job at the Ministry would be much less hectic, at least there shouldn't be too much work before the war ends."

These words immediately woke Harry, "No Voldy, I love this job."

**179.**

[_Someone's coming Harry._] After Harry moved into the Director's office, he had hung a painting of a giant snake lazily sunning himself behind the door, it was so lazy it wouldn't even raise its head even a little when informing Harry that he had visitors. After around ten seconds, Allan pushed open the door and came into the room, a thick pile of parchments in his hand. "Harry, the recruitment list for new healers has been confirmed, fifty in total. This is their information, please have a look."

Harry took the parchments and exclaimed in shock, "Fifty? That's not a lot. Don't be too stringent, we are in war time conditions after all."

Allan's smile was not a happy one, "Too stringent? You only have to look at the information to know whether we are being stringent."

Harry flipped through the information on the new healers, his brows knotting more and more as his dissatisfaction grew. From the details, Allan's recruitment efforts were far from stringent, nor were they at St. Mungo's usual standards, instead the standards had been lowered quite a bit, maybe too much. Of the fifty new recruits, only six had obtained more than seven Os in their NEWTs, and only one had achieved nine Os. It was fortunate that none of the candidates had gotten lower than Es in their results otherwise Harry would have been really upset.

"Allan, what's going on? Why have the standards been lowered so much?"

Allan waved his hands helplessly to indicate that the situation was out of his control. "It was not my intention, usually candidates with such results would not even be considered. But with the war we are really shorthanded, you asked me to recruit sixty people and in the week that the recruitment advertisements have gone out, only these fifty are vaguely acceptable. I believe that these candidates will work out alright, apart from the six with outstanding results, there are seven or eight more who have worked in the medical field in the past, just in lesser grade hospitals. I propose that we put these ten or so people in special training to at least provide some relief to our staff shortage issues, after all, this all came about because we are far too shorthanded."

"Alright." Harry sighed deeply as he picked up his quill and signed his name on each piece of parchment, indicating his approval to hire these candidates. As Allan had said, there was nothing they could do, St. Mungo's was shorthanded and the number of patients coming in were increasing every day, these last two days, even injured muggles had started appearing, these muggles had never come in contact with magic before and once they are wounded or attacked, their injuries are usually much worse than those of magical folk. Under these circumstances, even one more healer would mean more chance of being treated for the patients, it would also decrease the pressure on the hospital overall. But still, Harry was not quite happy with the situation, continuing his queries as he signed, "Allan, even though working in St. Mungo's might not be as desirable as working at the Ministry, it is still a highly paid, stable job that has always been highly sought after by graduating students, why is the situation so bad this year? This reflects badly on me as the Acting Director."

Allan shrugged, accompanying his works with exaggerated gestures, "Young people, always hot-blooded, passionate, willing to give up a promising career to pursue and fight for their ideals. I looked into it, of the fifty students with the highest graduating results this year, almost all joined one side of the war or the other, the only one that didn't join came to us."

"Well aren't we honored." Harry replied dryly, he remembered that the graduate in question was a Gryffindor, how rare. "Let him learn under you Allan, I have too much to take care of each day and will not have sufficient time to instruct him, let's not let his training lag."

"Of course!" Allan was very glad to hear this as he had high hopes for this recruit.

That morning, Harry saw Lily in the entrance hall when he arrived at St. Mungo's, her large eyes were filled with laughter and her face was filled with joy. The moment she saw Harry she handed him an invitation, "Harry, I'm getting married on November 12th, I hope you will attend the ceremony."

"Wonderful! This is great news! Don't worry, I will definitely arrive on time to attend the ceremony." Harry was truly happy for Lily. His father and mother were finally getting married, he put aside his remaining worries, at least his birth was now guaranteed. But if he wanted to keep both his parents safe until the end of the war, he would still need to be diligently.

However, in the depths of his mind, a faint fear began to appear. If Lily got pregnant and gave birth to little Harry Potter, then what would happen to him- Harry Potter from the future? He had gone back in the past before with Hermione but that was only for several hours, and it wasn't to a time before he had been born. Also, the way he appeared in this time was rather strange and could not easily be explained through any theory, magical or muggle. He had read countless books on time magic and theories on time and also questioned Voldemort about it in a roundabout manner, but had found out nothing of use. No one seemed to know about that strange corridor and it was as though it had never existed, but it did exist, Harry was sure of this as he himself was the proof of its existence.

**180.**

On the ninth evening after the start of the war, Snape visited St. Mungo's unexpectedly, his appearance was a pleasant surprise for Harry. The last time he and Snape had met had been two weeks ago, but it felt like more than half a century had passed. He welcomed his friend exuberantly, "Severus, what brought you here? Have you been well?"

Snape hugged Harry back, a little stiffly but carefully returning Harry's show of happiness and affection. Since their graduation, Harry had become a St. Mungo's healer and Snape had stayed at Hogwarts and taken over Voldemort's position as the DADA Professor, he and Harry usually saw each other every week or two, to show his happiness at seeing his good friend as well as how much he missed him, Harry would give Snape a very warm hug every time they met. As a Slytherin who paid great attention to social etiquette, Snape was not in the habit of having close bodily contact with other wizards, that was a Gryffindor custom, so the first time Harry gave him a hug he was stiff as a board. At the beginning he had tried to convince Harry to stop greeting him in such a decidedly non-Slytherin manner, but he found that his words fell on deaf ears, he would say whatever he wanted but Harry would do whatever HE wanted, not only that, but Harry had once complained that Snape was too cold to him. "I am hugging you so warmly to convey how much I missed you, not only do you not respond, but you look like someone is torturing you, as though I am the only one of us that feels our friendship is important!" Seeing his best and most steadfast friend complaining to him in such an upset manner, Snape could only give in and do as Harry wanted.

"Everything has been fine and going smoothly."

"Then why have you come to me?" Harry immediately added, "Are you busy? If so, we can talk now in the Staff Room, if not, wait for me and we can talk over dinner after my shift."

Looking at the multitude of people bustling around the halls, then looking at Rose, who was obviously waiting for Harry nearby, Snape replied, "I'm already off work and am not busy so we can talk over dinner later."

"Alright, you can wait for me in the Staff Room, we'll leave together after my shift."

Snape made his way to the sixth floor while Harry took care of the huge pile of paperwork that Rose had brought him before going up to the seventh floor and entering his office, where he found Hedwig and asked her to deliver a note to Voldemort for him, telling him not to wait for him as he would be going out, reminding him to eat on time and take care of himself and so on.

After his shift ended, Harry and Snape left St. Mungo's at eight in the evening. Prior to this they had spent some time discussing where they should go for dinner, Snape wanted to go to Diagon Alley as they would not need to wear muggle attire there, but Harry preferred B Street in muggle London as things were not as quiet and deserted there. Finally Snape lost the argument and had to put on the muggle clothing that Harry kept in his office before they made their way to muggle London. This was a high end business district in London and many of the magical world's most prestigious shops were also located here. As the flames of war had not yet reached muggle London to any great extent, most of the residents of the city were unaware that a fierce war that also had great impact on them was going on right next to them and escalating, this area was not as deserted and depressing as Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. The two of them entered an opulent hotel decorated in a clearly Slytherin style, asked for a private room and took the menu brought to them personally by the manager of the hotel.

At he was on duty the next day, Harry refrained from any heavy drinking, only ordering some mead mixed with pear juice, Snape, unexpectedly, ordered a whole bottle of fire whiskey, shocking Harry.

"Severus, are you crazy! Don't you have to work tomorrow?" Even though the war had begun, the major magical schools should not have ceased classes yet.

"Yes, but…"

"Give him a glass of fire whiskey, thank you." Harry stopped Snape's words and gave the manager Snape's order himself.

After seeing to it that many steaming dishes covered the table, the manager led the serving staff out after bowing deeply, leaving the two good friends alone in the huge room.

Harry took a sip of the mead, which he silently savored, not wanting to beat around the bush, he asked outright, "Talk to me Severus, what is bothering you?"

**181.**

Harry asked this based on two reasons, one, every time Snape contacted him, it was either via owl or the two-way mirror, he had never come to St. Mungo's in person before to visit Harry, this was because Snape understood that a healer's job was hectic and Harry would not be likely to have much time to see him in private. Secondly, like Harry, Snape never drank heavily when he had work the next day, nor did he drink as a rule, but his actions just prior indicated that Snape wanted to get drunk.

Snape had by now realized that his actions had given too much away and took a sip of his own drink. His slanted eyes were as dark as the deepest night, seeming to swallow all light. "This evening at seven there was a war meeting, it did not last long and only one topic was discussed, our honored leader very quickly made a suggestion that soon became an order, it will be the headline of tomorrow's "Daily Prophet", do you know what this order is?"

Harry shrugged, "I didn't attend the meeting Severus."

"It is a prohibition on selling the Wolfsbane potion." Snape said slowly.

Harry stilled in surprise as he thought immediately of Remus, "Then can you not supply Lupin with Wolfsbane anymore?" He can of course guess at Snape's difficulties, he tapped the table with his finger in varying tempo, slow then fast, then slow again, "There should not be a problem with Lupin being the sole exception, I will talk to Voldy as well, I think he will agree to this." With so many werewolves on his side, Voldemort shouldn't quibble over Lupin, who is just one out of many.

Snape shook his head gravely, "Harry, it's not that simple. You don't know the wolfsbane potion, it has a serious side effect."

Side effect? Harry's eyes widened in surprise, how could there be a side effect to the greatest invention of the twentieth century? He had never heard anything about this before. "What side effect?"

Snape looked around cautiously, to be sure he raised his wand and cast a series of spells at the door that Harry had already spelled locked and silenced, including a silencing charm, a locking charm and a charm to ward off interruptions, firmly ensuring that no third party will learn of their conversation in this room. He lowered his voice as he replied, "I discovered this flaw when I delved into improving the wolfsbane potion. At the time I experimented on many werewolves, on one occasion, as there were simply too many, I only gave the potion to a portion of the werewolves. When I arrived in the laboratory the next day, I found that those who were not given the potion were abnormally aggressive and vicious, they also had increased strength, one of them had even bitten through the steel cage with his teeth! If I hadn't gotten there in time, those werewolves might have escaped." His hands were trembling, as though he was back in that dangerous room in that terrifying moment, then he grabbed his glass with his shaking hand and finished the entire drink in one gulp, the fiery feeling causing his body to tremble as he coughed from the burn in his throat, it took more than a minute before he recovered his voice. "The thing that bothered me most was not that. There were several werewolves who had been given the potion locked in with those who weren't, when I arrived the next day, those who had taken the potion had been killed by the others."

At Snape's words, Harry grew alarmingly pale until his face was as white as winter snow. He wanted to speak but the words would not make it past the lump in his throat, he pinched his own thigh to called back his wits with the sharp pain. "It… wasn't a coincidence?"

"To confirm this, I did more than a hundred experiments on both wolves and werewolves over a year, the results were indisputable. The reactions of werewolves were even greater than those of wolves, stopping the potion causes the strength of wolves to increase more than threefold, in werewolves the increase is at least five times, and their transformation extends from the usual two days of the full moon to a full week after the full moon."

"Do they attack indiscriminately, or are they directed?"

Snape was silent for a moment, Harry did not rush him, instead silently waiting for his friend's reply. "In the beginning it was indiscriminate, but later…"

Harry understood, the improved wolfsbane must have some ingredient that prevents the transformed werewolves from attacking the Death Eaters. "Then Remus' potion…" Harry swallowed back his question as the answer was already apparent.

"In truth, master did not ask me to stop providing the potion to Lupin." Snape didn't dare look at Harry and kept his eyes lowered, "Instead he asked me to provide sufficient quantities to him in a timely manner, to ensure that the Order of the Phoenix believes Lupin to be harmless."

Harry's finger went back to tapping the table unconsciously, "Then, will there be any exceptions to the prohibition on selling the wolfsbane potion?"

Snape lifted his eyes, "All those who join the Death Eaters will be provided with the potion free of charge. With good performance, they will be awarded with an extra month's supply, those who perform unsatisfactorily will be ejected from our side."


	20. Chapters 182-190

Hi All! So, I've put the reasons for the delay and anything else I felt was relevant on my profile so if you're interested, please go to my profile and read about it there. Being the contrary person that I am, the moment I wrote that I had lost my translation momentum and impetus, I suddenly seemed to regain it, go figure right? Still, I will be busy prior to the CNY so don't expect anything like the old posting speed of two or three every week, it'll be more like one every week or so, but I will try my best.

Enjoy!

**182.**

A ploy truly worthy of Voldemort.

The werewolves who have used the wolfsbane potion would be harmless to his own side regardless of whether they were directly under his control. If they joined the Death Eaters, they would naturally be Voldemort's servants and his warriors, if not, they would be extremely dangerous creatures that would be detrimental to the safety of the magical world, which means that the Order of the Phoenix would be compelled to find ways to capture or even destroy them. With the current might of the werewolves, the Order would have to pay a heavy price to do this. No matter what, Voldemort can watch from the sidelines with a smile and reap the benefits. However, the werewolves and the Order were of no concern to Harry, the only thing that he was concerned about, and that might affect his life and his personal stance in the war, now or in the future, was the wizard Remus Lupin.

"Voldy wants to use Lupin's position. As a member of the Order of the Phoenix and a good friend of James Potter, Dumbledore would have full trust in him and he would make a wonderful tool, a tool that Voldy could deploy at the most opportune moment."

"Correct." Snape agreed, "As the war progresses, the younger generation of the Order, led by James Potter will have an ever greater impact and potential, thus Lupin's usefulness as a tool also increases."

"Voldy would not care how Lupin feels about all this, to him, Lupin is just a disposable tool, something he can use and then discard." As Harry said this, he looked at Snape, who flinched at Harry's words, although his eyes remained calm. Perhaps he had already come to the same conclusions? "Lupin is a gentle and kind wizard, at least to anyone other than Slytherins, he has a great amount of love for his friends James Potter and Sirius Black, Lily as well, he respects Dumbledore, McGonagall and other wizards and witches that are his elders, he feels pity and empathy for the muggles and believes that they should be protected. If Lupin were to bite or hurt someone after he no longer has access to the potion, he will be inconsolable and overwhelmed with guilt once he recovers his sanity, he might even be driven to take his own life."

"I know, that is why I came to you." Snape swept his hand over his face as he tried to gather his thoughts, "I alone may not be able to prevent that outcome… I had thought that I might be able to, but in truth I cannot do anything."

The two had known each other for more than ten years and in all that time, Harry had rarely seen Snape so despondent, this thing with Lupin was really getting to him. "You have asked me for help and I am hardly going to turn you down."

He thought hard over this matter. If Remus was needed for an operation, that operation was likely to be of great importance. In truth, it would be easy to sabotage a mission, there are hundreds of ways to isolate Remus, all they had to risk was injuring him to a possibly significant extent. That was not the issue, the problem was Voldemort's rage if the operation should fail. They could not put Snape in front of Voldemort in that case, he would kill Snape, and any other wizard would suffer an even worse fate. It seems that only Harry himself would survive the outcome of a botched mission. However… if an operation failed, wouldn't that upset Voldy? Harry felt a moment of sorrow. Such an operation might be of great importance to Voldemort and its failure might have a significant impact, if Harry then stood up and announce that he was responsible for the failure, what would Voldemort think of that? At the very least he would feel that Harry had betrayed him right? Being betrayed by the one you loved… if Voldemort had betrayed him, Harry felt that he might fall apart, so how then would Voldemort react if he felt that Harry had betrayed him? Even if Voldemort can understand Harry's actions, wouldn't the failure of such a mission have a detrimental impact on Voldemort's long term plans? If they lost the war… Harry recalled the first time he had seen Voldemort, without a body, without his magic, without his supporters and servants, only able to possess a weak wizard and drink unicorn blood to cling to life, easily defeated by his own eleven year old self… the once towering and great king of darkness reduced to a lowly and desperate existence. Even though he made a triumphant return and eventually ruled the world, he still had to endure drifting around that cold, desolate forest, struggling for eleven years, ELEVEN!

Harry, are you going to condemn him to that existence again? He asked himself. Are you going to push your lover into that terrible future with your own hands?

He didn't want Remus to come to harm but he also did not want to condemn Voldemort to eleven years of suffering, Harry was damned either way. But he told himself that there must be a way. If only Voldemort would not cast his eye towards Remus everything would have been perfect. But Remus was already in Voldemort's sights and it would be nigh on impossible to convince the man to not use such an effective yet harmless tool, unless… unless he knew what Remus meant to Harry.

This was a good plan, if Voldemort knew the significance of James, Lily, Sirius and Remus and how they were connected to Harry, then he would not harm these people, but this meant that Harry would have to tell Voldemort about his decade long secret and tell the man the truth about where he came from, who his parents were and everything he had gone through. Harry disliked this option from the bottom of his heart, every time he even thought of doing this he felt chilled all over, as though something terrible was about to happen.

In the end Harry had not come to any concrete conclusions, but he did not let Snape see this, Snape thought that Harry already had a foolproof strategy in place and returned home relaxed. Harry spent the whole carriage ride home deep in thought, staring unseeingly at the beautiful scenery and wondering what he was going to do.

**183.**

The house elves stopped the carriage and in a lowered voice, so as not to startle Harry, said, "Honored master Harry, we have arrived at the Manor."

The house elf opened the carriage door and Harry got out of the carriage. It was already late at night and most of Voldemort Manor was slumbering, there was only a solitary light in the main hall on the first floor, awaiting the return of the other master of the Manor. Harry lifted his head and looked at the dark window of the main bedroom, feelings restlessness and unease getting stronger and stronger, weighing heavily on his heart. No, this would not do. Harry took a deep breath and shook his head hard to clear it, slapping his own face a few times to clear his mind, Harry stopped himself from thinking anymore on the disturbing issues, he would not allow these things to disrupt his time with Voldemort, especially not when the man was sleeping.

After taking a quick bath, he cast a drying charm on his body and walked out of the room, refreshed. The purpose of this room was so that they would not disturb the other's slumber if they were to bathe late at night. Harry walked up to the door of the main bedroom and whispered the password and as though understanding his intention, the door swung open silently, he crept over to the bed, carefully pushed aside the curtains and got in as softly as he could, only to be taken into the arms of a bright eyed and completely awake Voldemort.

"My dear Harry, do you know what time it is?" Without waiting for Harry's reply, he continued, "It's twelve o'clock. What meaningful topics were you and Severus discussing to forget the time like this?"

Shocked, Harry panted as he replied, "I… I thought you were asleep!" Immediately thinking that that wasn't what he should be saying, he continued with annoyance, "Didn't I tell you to rest and not wait for me?"

Voldemort smiled, "There are too many things for me to take care of, how could I get to bed early. I had only just come to bed."

Harry sighed silently, no matter how late he came home, Voldemort always had plenty of reasons to wait for him to return before going to sleep. "If I come home late in the future, don't wait for me, just sleep." He didn't know how many times he had already said this.

"Alright, I know." Voldemort replied halfheartedly, before rolled over and covering Harry's body with his own, reaching into Harry's sleep robes, he rubbed the pink nubs on Harry's chest with one hand while the other caressed his hardening member. "Tired?" He asked as he leered.

Giving the man a resigned glare, Harry put his own arms around Voldemort's shoulders, "Just once, I'm too tired for any more."

The next morning, Harry got up a little later than usual. Feeling tired, he called a house elf and had it bring him Pepper Up and restorative potions. They had gotten a little too enthusiastic last night, although his body felt alright this morning, he was still a little tired and disoriented.

Nagini was watching the morning news in the living room, not understanding why the muggles were so mad over a sport where the participants couldn't fly and there was only one ball, Voldemort was reading the "Daily Prophet" as he ate breakfast, his expression smug. Harry's repeated yawns attracted his attention, "What is it? Feeling tired?"

Vengefully biting into the bread as though it was the cause of his tiredness, Harry mumbled a reply, "It's nothing, I had the house elves bring make me some potions."

Voldemort rubbed his nose, slightly abashed, he seemed to have been a little too over enthusiastic last night, Harry's voice was raspy from crying out so much last night, but he had not stopped despite his cries. Harry was just too beautiful and Voldemort just couldn't help himself, of course he would never tell Harry this.

"Oh." Harry suddenly remembered, "November 12th is Lily and James Potter's wedding, I promised her I would attend."

"Lily Evans." Voldemort asked with apparent disinterest, "You certainly seem to get on well with her."

"We're just old school friends." Harry's reply was nonchalant. There were no "sides" at St. Mungos, the employees were divided into various groups based on personality quirks. Harry and Lily were similar by nature, this was why they got along well with each other and other people.

"In truth, I had expected the girl to join the Order of the Phoenix, after all, her boyfriend is in it up to his eyeballs." Voldemort said meaningfully.

Harry just smiled and concentrated on eating his breakfast. In the last three years, he had subtly steered Lily towards St. Mungo's motto of serving the people as a healer and it was finally showing some effect. He had been very relieved that day when Lily willingly stayed at St. Mungo's.

**184.**

The announcement in the papers of Voldemort's ban on the selling of the Wolfsbane potion caused a furor and much debate in the public. In the six years since the Wolfsbane potion was put on the market, werewolf attacks on the wizarding public had decreased by 80% while the acceptance of werewolves by the same public had increased by 30% up to the current figure of 42%. Wizards had never felt safer and werewolves had never felt so accepted. Everything had been going so well as it was.

As a result of this, the "Magical Times" run by the Potter family, used a full page article to criticize Voldemort's decision, calling it the actions of a power-hungry, selfish man, pushing their entire society into danger, "These actions are extremely unethical and lacking in civic duty, it is also completely counter to Voldemort's usual position of wanting to lead the magical world into a better future. He has allowed his ambitions to go to his head and become a total warmongering madman, he isn't trying to build an advanced, civilized society, he is only out to fulfill his own desires."

The "Wizards Truth" newspaper run by the Parkinson family responded thus, "As we all know, the Wolfsbane Potion is a very expensive one, it was invented by a genius Potions Master with the aim of ensuring that werewolves in untenable situations might have a brighter future. The results are quite obvious, over the past six years werewolves are no longer being seem as creatures to inspire terror in the wizarding public. But do the wizarding public realize what the sacrifices the Death Eaters have made for them to enjoy these benefits? It is extremely difficult to obtain the key ingredient to the Wolfsbane potion and the volume required is quite huge, to ensure that the public enjoys these benefits by having the potion marketed, many of our Death Eater werewolves have not even enjoyed the benefit of the potion themselves at all! We empathize with these werewolves and wholeheartedly admire their noble nature, they are who we should look up to and emulate!" At this point, the tone of the article changed, "At the present time, war is unavoidable and the Death Eaters face unprecedented hardship in the coming future, we are facing a formidable enemy and harrowing conditions, as well as the lingering and hate filled gazes of our enemies' supporters, the Death Eaters are in a life or death situation! In these circumstances, our honored Master Voldemort believes that what we wizards and witches should concentrate on is protecting ourselves, ensuring the safety of our families and friends and our compatriots, also we must utilize all benefits and advantages for own organization. This is an incontrovertible fact, it is also a decision that any moral, responsible and ethical leader would make without any hesitation. Honored Master Voldemort is just such a leader. As only a small percentage of the werewolves belong to our organization while the bulk of the rest belong to or support the Order of the Phoenix, selling these werewolves the Wolfsbane potion would be tantamount to supporting our enemies and destroying ourselves, it would be unacceptable to any leader and this is why he had decided to stop selling the Wolfsbane potion." Finally the paper stated, with apparent nonchalance, "The great yet benevolent Master Voldemort may be cold and unforgiving to his enemies, but to his follower he is both generous and kind."

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or scoff when he read the article, so ludicrous did he find it. "Wizard's Truth" was completely twisting the truth. As least as far as he was aware, Voldemort had never withheld wolfsbane from his werewolf followers, instead it was the werewolves themselves who had refused to take the potion, this enjoy transforming and attacking wizarding children, thereby making more werewolves, they also enjoy watching those wizarding families suffer.

Although "Wizard's Truth" implied that those werewolves who joined Death Eater ranks would receive sufficient quantities of the potions, most werewolves didn't deign to consider this option. In their minds, they were just returning to their lives as they were prior to taking the potion, they didn't see any issue with that, after all, they had lived well enough like that, most wizards thought the same thing. Unfortunately, the facts proved that their dismissive and uncaring attitude would result in catastrophe.

The mayhem continued for more than three weeks, twenty werewolves were killed resisting when they went wild during their transformations, thirty-seven committed suicide from guilt over their actions and three were sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss due to the extreme violence of their actions, almost two hundred other werewolves were sentenced to six months or more in Azkaban and over one thousand witches, wizards and children died during the unrest, around seven thousand one hundred were injured and the area of St Mungos had to be expanded to three times its original space to accommodate the patients. Harry didn't leave the hospital for 48 hours. These results chilled the wizarding public to the depths of their souls and werewolves were once again creatures to be feared, no longer were they welcomed or accepted and they were listed even above giants and inferi as creatures to be feared. The number of werewolves that suffer because of this cannot be counted.

**185.**

Remus put down the "Daily Prophet" with a heavy heart. Today's headline was "Crisis endured. But what do we do on the next full moon?" all the other papers on the desk had similar headlines.

It had been a nightmarish three weeks, the wizarding public had been living under the constant shadow of the werewolves and cowering from their sharp teeth and swift claws. The Death Eaters did not take this opportunity to attack, instead they helped the wounded and provided shelter to those hiding from the werewolves, this won them much goodwill, almost as much goodwill as the Order of the Phoenix won with their blood and lives. "Magical Times" and other neutral newspapers questioned why the werewolves did not attack the Death Eaters but those devious cowards just argued that as they had been researching werewolves for so long, they had ways to avoid them. Complete nonsense, but it was enough to pull the wool over the eyes of those who don't know the facts, making them feel safe.

This is quite damaging to the Order of the Phoenix, Remus understand this so he had made the decision to give up his own doses of the potion so the Order could research it, they believed that things were looking up, but when the various analytical magic reached the potion, it quickly became murky and unusable. It was fortunate that Dumbledore had foreseen this and had only allowed the researchers to take one fifth of the bottle of wolfsbane for testing, otherwise Remus didn't know how he would have gotten through this full moon.

After this failure to look into the potion, members of the Order had raised doubts about Remus, believing that such a dangerous person should not be allowed to remain in the Order. They said things like, "He's bait! Or a spy, otherwise why would he be the only one who can enjoy using the Potion without being a Death Eater!" "What kind of admirer can ignore Voldemort's ban? He would have to be unbelievably brave." But Dumbledore quieted these comments, "I have faith in Lupin, I also have faith in his admirer- he has been helping Lupin without asking for anything in return for these many years, he would never do anything to hurt Lupin." "What if he does want to hurt Lupin? Or what if he suddenly dies? Who can guarantee that Lupin won't become like the other werewolves, just another bloodthirsty monster?" Some even asked. "If that time should come, I will take care of it, alright?" Dumbledore chuckled genially.

With Dumbledore's personal endorsement, the other Order members had no choice but to accept this and Remus was allowed to remain in the Order. Remus was very grateful for Dumbledore's faith in him and became ever more admiring of the wise and kind old man, he would willingly follow this man always, to achieve their common ideals, but this would mean that he and the half blood prince will grow ever further apart.

Remus reached past his shirt to touch a piece of parchment that he always kept next to his skin, it was carefully folded and well preserved. This parchment had come with the wolfsbane potion on October 5th, it both thrilled and frightened Remus. The half blood prince rarely wrote to him, the last letter had been sent when he graduated, telling he that the wolfbane potion will be sent on a monthly basis instead of yearly as in the past.

Remus opened the parchment to read the sparse words:

Dearest Remus,

I must confess that you are the only one that I want to help. I do not care what happens to the other werewolves but I will not allow it to happen to you. I will not let you become like them. Even if I should die, someone trusted will take over from me.

The Half Blood Prince

Remus added one add of words before the final sentence on the letter: "Abandoned by the world, desolate and pained over that which you cannot change", these were not Remus' words, they belonged to the half blood prince. When Remus had first seen the unevenness of the parchment, he had mentioned it in passing and Lily had taken out something called a pencil, after running it over the parchment for a while, this line of writing appeared. Obviously the prince had written a letter with similar content but had not sent it.

At the time Remus had not understood why the half blood prince had erased these words, it was not until he had woken up after the night of the full moon and seem the carnage wreaked by the werewolves and realized the Death Eaters' plot that he had understood the meaning the these words.

In that moment, he had truly felt that he was loved, that that person loved him incredibly deeply and passionately. It could not be denied that the half blood prince's love was selfish and narrow in scope, but Remus was nevertheless moved. The half blood prince was willing to ensure that Remus could do as he wanted at the risk of his own safety, to the point of ensuring that no problems would arise even after his own death, this love filled Remus with incredible joy. Maybe this is how Slytherins loved, Voldemort was such a cold and unfeeling man, but Harry was treasured and well treated by this man, the half blood prince could sit by and watch as werewolves butchered wizards then wake up and be consumed by guilt, but he could not bear to watch Remus suffer.

Remus read the half blood prince's letter again then carefully put it away. The half blood prince's love asked for nothing in return, it was not even overtly expressed, as though not wanting to burden Remus with any unwanted emotions, but the more selfless he was, the more saddened Remus became. Will they ever be able to meet? Or will the first time they meet be on a battlefield? Perhaps he will in the future kill the half blood prince without ever knowing? He heart trembled and bled as tears slid uncontrollably down his cheeks.

**186.**

On November 12th James and Lily Potter held a simple yet grand wedding ceremony. Even though everything was kept simple due to the wartime conditions, a wedding in a family of the Potter family's wealth and power was still extremely opulent. All of the groom's friends and family came to attend the wedding but on the bride's side there were only three guests. Lily's mother and father were proud that their daughter had found such a wonderful husband, James impressed, no matter in looks, family background, his career, and his feelings for Lily. Lily's sister Petunia seemed to stick out from the beginning and she tried as hard as she could to hide in a corner, staring at the groom and the other attending wizards and witches with hateful eyes, she ate not one bite of food. She had gotten married two years ago and had a loving relationship with her husband, she had had no intention of informing her husband Vernon of the wedding but under the pressure of her parents she had no choice but to do so, however, she then came up with a multitude of reasons and successfully prevented Vernon from attending.

Harry's arrival chilled the atmosphere for a moment but everyone quickly got back into a more jubilant mood and many rushed up to greet him. As the Deputy Director as well as the Acting Director of St Mungos hospital, Harry had led the healers of St Mungos to diligently and conscientiously perform their duties during the past three months of war, they had healed patient after patient and all their attending guest had either been healed themselves or their families and friends had, given that Harry was Lily superior at work, and he was attending the wedding as St Mungos' Deputy Director and Acting Director, everyone choose to ignore that fact that he was at the same time Voldemort's lover.

Lily came towards Harry arm in arm with James, her face illuminated by the joy of being a new bride. "Harry, thank you for attending my wedding, I am so glad that you came."

"I told you that I would be here Lily. You look wonder, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." Lily's surprised Harry a little. He of course realized that Lily was beautiful, she was the reigning beauty of Gryffindor house as well as St Mungos, but Lily usually didn't put too much effort into her appearance and was usually fresh-faced, today she had make a real effort, from her make up to her outfit, even the smallest details of hair clips and brooches were carefully chosen, resulting in a look that had shocked all her colleagues, Harry's reaction was a relatively mild one.

No wonder they all say that a woman is most beautiful when she has made the choice to walk hand in hand with the man that she loves, Harry thought. Right now, Lily was like a lily flower in full bloom, beautiful, delicate, pure and incandescent. "Congratulations to you as well Mr. Potter, you have taken St Mungos most beautiful flower for your own."

James looked with Harry wordlessly, his manners were the epitome of high society, elegant, grand and faintly distant, but his heart of hearts was consumed by wave after wave of emotions. It has been three years but he still has not been able to forget the man in front of him, even though they are destined to never be together, even though his love had only ever been one-sided. Seeing this face, so like Lily's, but with its own completely different allure, his heart began to beat uncontrollably. Three years had made Harry Potter more mature and confident, it had added to his air of intriguing allure, James wished that time could turn back and he could return to being a Hogwarts Sixth Year student, back then, he didn't know his own heart and Harry Potter was so close to him.

As the wedding neared its conclusion, Harry excused himself and fought his way through the crowd, bumping into Remus, "Oh, sorry Lupin."

"It's alright." Lupin stared at Harry's retreating back wistfully, he caught a scent from Harry Potter, faint but it stimulated his senses, like a small sting. It was not the first time he had caught this scent, a faint aroma of herbs mixed with some bitterness, he had smelt it on Harry Potter, on Severus Snape, on Lucius Malfoy and on many other Slytherins. Each time, the scent caused a nameless sorrow in his heart, as though his soul was weeping. Where had he smelled this aroma before? An why couldn't he remember?

Walking out of the hotel, Harry realized that Snape was calling him on the two-way mirror. "You forget this when you left." Snape waved the potion bottle in his had.

Harry smacked his forehead, "Oh Merlin, I did forget, I will come get it right away."

When he arrive at his friend's house, Harry was roundly ridiculed, "I had thought you were coming to my house to get the potion, instead it was just to whittle away some time before the wedding. You should of just told me and avoided the fuss."

Harry scratched his head sheepishly then snatched the potion and made to leave, "I'm going now!"

"Wait!" Snape called out, "Is he… alright?" He had heard that HE had taken part in the rounding up of the werewolves in September, luckily he had not been injured. Snape wondered if HE felt pain or sorrow over the werewolves' plight.

Harry didn't even hesitate or think, "No, everything's going fine for Lupin. He looked good and he was smiling, mentally, although he is saddened over the plight of the werewolves, he is just saddened. Afterall he doesn't have the luxury of worrying over others. Oh right! He seems to be very grateful for what the half blood prince has done for him, he- loves the half blood prince even more now."

**187.**

After Christmas and the New Year, Spring seemed to speed up her pace. Green spread stealthily over the woods and red stained the flowers, after a silvery Winter, London welcomed a more colourful Spring. The war had been going on for more than half a year and St Mungos was filled with patients every day, some recovered and left the hospital, others fell into eternal slumber.

Harry came to the end of a five hour healing session resulting in a wizard's left hand slowly regaining feeling and his own exhaustion, rushing through the gratitude of the patient he proceeded to hear Rose's report while making his way up towards the elevator. On entering the elevation he suddenly recalled something and turned to question Rose, "Has Kate Green still not been discharged?"

Rose's answer was definitive, "No, Lily says that one tendon has still not recovered completely and discharging her prematurely could undo all the previous healing."

Harry snorted in disgruntlement and did not reply.

Rose looked at him then giggled, "Harry, Harry, Ms. Green was in the past. Master Voldemort broke all ties with these witches and wizards long ago and has been by your side all these years, you should not take these things to heart so much."

Harry rolled his eyes and ignored here. He couldn't help his disgruntlement, seeing so many faces somewhat like his own day in day out, having women that have been with his lover wondering around his workplace, nobody would be happy with that. Plus this woman's brother had ALSO had a thing with Voldemort, even though he wasn't around everyday like Kate Green, but in the month that Kate Green had been at the hospital, the brother had come to visit several times and run into Harry, adding to Harry's increasing ire. Unfortunately, Lily had not treated Kate Green any differently because she was a Death Eater, meaning that the woman was still in the hospital. Times like these Harry really hated St Mungos' neutrality, he would like nothing better than to kick that woman out and eliminate the source of his frustrations.

The two walked into the office and Allan's head immediately appeared in the fireplace, "Harry, emergency, please come to the first floor hall right away." The head retreated right away and Harry and Rose hurried out of the office after a brief look at each other.

When Harry arrived downstairs, he saw a group of people in the hall, old and young, male and female. A middle aged witch sat in a wheelchair and wept, her handkerchief half soaked in her tears, next to her sat a young witch with tear-filled eyes, clearly holding back her tears as she comforted the middle-aged witch. Before them stood a young wizard of around twenty years of age, face expressionless, eyes empty and glazed.

Allan passed the patient chart to Harry, shaking his head despondently, "The Cruciatus. He was under the curse for two days and nights and this is what he turned into. He's gone completely mad and it's permanent, no chance of recovery."

A trainee healer beside him continued, "The patient's name is Jack Longbottom, 21 years of age, male, the diagnosis is mental illness due to prolonged Cruciatus exposure, damage level above level 7, damage type permanent."

Harry glanced through the chart then looked at the trainee healer, "You're one of this year's new recruits right? Nicholas Barkley?"

"Yes Director Potter."

"It's Acting Director." Harry corrected.

Seeing Harry, one of the wizards solemnly implored, "Mr Potter, please try to save him, save my cousin, he's only 21, he's only been married two years and doesn't even have any children yet, he can't just rot way in a hospital for the rest of his life!"

Harry looked at him then suddenly recalled the man, "Longbottom? Frank Longbottom."

"Yes, your school mate." Frank admitted.

Allan tried to ease the situation, "Mr Longbottom, I understand how you feel. But this is no ordinary spell damage, it's cruciatus damage! After this amount of torture, there's no way that recovery could occur, you've seen the results, damage of above level 7 is permanent. I personally suggest that you proceed to choosing a room for your cousin."

Frank was of course aware of these facts, he knew in his heart that Jack was beyond help. But his did not want to give up and just watch this young man rot away in a hospital for the next decades, making Frank's parents live in sorrow for the rest of their lives. "Is there really nothing that can be done? He's only 21…"

"Don't ask for his help Frank!" Was shouted as a pair of twins rushed to the front of the group, running to Frank's side waving their fists to express their fury. "Our brother was tortured by Death Eaters and he, Harry Potter, is one of those Death Eaters, he's one of the culprits! We don't need to ask for his help Frank, he's a Death Eater!"

The hall was plunged into silence as all eyes gathered on the twins, Frank and another wizard hurriedly put their hands over the twins' mouths, rushing to apologize to Harry, "Mr Harry Potter, they're just children and don't know what they're saying, please, forgive them."

Harry smiled faintly, took our his wand and spelled away the hold of the two adult wizards, both staggered back several steps after losing hold of the twins. Oh no, they thought, the twins were done for.

**188.**

Two Aurors that had been patrolling the areas around the hall had made their way over, "Mr Harry Potter, is our assistance required?"

Harry nodded faintly, "Please. Take these two young men to Azkaban, the charge is slander of a St Mungos healer, incarceration for one week and the punishment of copying the "St Mungos Neutrality Act" one hundred times.

The Aurors moved to take action, after a _Silencio_ and a _Petrificus totalis_, both youths, now immobile, were taken out of the hall and apparated to Azkaban.

Frank and the rest of the Longbottom clan signed in relief, just one week and some lines, nothing really significant, Harry Potter had been very lenient, otherwise it wouldn't have been impossible that the two could have been put away for a year or more. Given the nature of the twins, they may not have been able to live normal lives even after leaving Azkaban.

After dealing with the youths, Harry cut though the crowd of people, "Let me look at the patient." He got to Jack then used his wand to cast diagnostics to ascertain his condition. The middle-aged witch had stopped crying when the twins started yelling at Harry and now her eyes were nailed to him, filled with hope and longing. Harry's brows drew together in a faint frown as he looked at the blue light on his wand, that indicated damage level of over 7, with the current healing methods there was no chance of recovery, "Damage level more than 7, permanent damage."

All the Longbottoms paled and the middle-aged witch started weeping again, even harder than before. They had already known how bad Jack's condition was, Head Healer Allan had been very clear with them, but Harry Potter's appearance had brought with is some hope- Harry Potter was St Mungos' best healer, his healing statistics climbed ever higher in the past few years he had been working here, breaking all previous records. So when even Harry Potter announce that treatment was impossible, it had a significant impact on them.

Too young, Harry though, only 21, his life was just starting, and he would have to spend the rest of it like a living corpse, causing his loved ones pain and sorrow. Harry was silent for a long time, running everything back and forth in his mind, finally he made a decision, "May I ask, which of you is responsible for the patient? I need someone that can make decision for him, a very important decision."

They all looked at each other, torn, then Frank walked up to the middle-aged witch and the young witch comforting her and said, "This is my aunt Jessica Longbottom and Jack's mother, this is Claudia Longbottom, Jack's wife, they are Jack's closest family and are qualified to make decisions for Jack."

The two witches looked at each other and Jessica wiped away her tears with the handkerchief, voice still rough from her sobs, "Deputy Director Potter, what decision do you need Claudia and I to make for Jack? Can this save him?" Because her words were done tear were once again shimmering in her eyes.

Harry raised two fingers in front of the two witches, "Right now there are two roads in front of Jack, one, check into the hospital, use traditional healing methods, we put him in a single room and assign experienced, well-trained and patient healers to look after him, or, two, I can use a method of healing on him, after this healing, he has a 3% chance of complete recovery, but the chance of death could be as high as 97%, because this healing method is both very dangerous and very painful."

At first the wizards looked overjoyed that there was a chance of recovery, but at the rest of Harry's explanation, this joy disappeared and was replaced with indecision and worry.

Frank frowned deeply, and sought confirmation from Harry, "Mr Potter, are you saying that after the healing you are proposing, if it fails, Jack will definitely die, he will not even live as he is currently, but… he would die?"

Harry nodded in agreement, "Yes, if the healing fails, Jack Longbottom will die. But if it succeeds, Jack Longbottom will be as he was before. This is a high risk high gain decision, so I need for someone who is qualified to make this decision to decide, also, the decision must be made soon, the best change for recovery is within 24 hours of the cruciatus exposure."

Jessica Longbottom froze, not sure which choice was the best for her son Jack. If she chose the first, she was unwilling to see Jack in this hospital for the rest of his life, she didn't think Jack would want that either, but the second, 97% chance of fatality, can she be sure that her son would be that 3%? If the treatment failed, her son won't even be able to lie in St Mungos!

**189.**

After much deliberation, Jessica Longbottom was still not able to make a decision, so she turned to her daughter in law, "Claudia, you are Jack's wife, perhaps… you should make this decision, I will support your choice."

Claudia Longbottom was just as frozen with indecision, she simply didn't know what option was the best for her husband. She couldn't bear to watch her beloved husband go through the rest of his live lying senselessly in a bed but neither did she want him to go through a high risk medical treatment. There is only a 3% chance of success but a 97% chance of fatality, meaning that only three out of one hundred people would survive, how could she proceed with such odds?!

The atmosphere in the hall was heavy and no one broke the silence, there was also no one making any attempt to urge either Mrs Longbottom to make a decision, it was as though everyone thought that things might just resolve themselves if they let it drag on like this.

After five minutes, Harry's patience ran out. He can understand how the two witches felt, he can also understand what the other Longbottoms are going through, this was a life or death decision and it isn't an easy on to make. But he could wait no longer, there were still many other things that needed his attention and he could waste no more time in silence. Given that there was plenty of time left until the 24 hour deadline was up, it would be better to give the family time to consider things in depth, as a healer all he can do is suggest treatment options. "As both Mrs Longbottoms have no response, I can only take your silence as tacit acceptance of the first option, I will arrange a private room for Mr Jack Longbottom and assign an experienced healer to his care. I don't know the exact time Mr Longbottom's cruciatus exposure came to an end and I couldn't possibly pressure you to make a decision due to time issues, after all you are the patient's family, you have the right to choose a safer option for him, I can only say this, the earlier the treatment is administered, the greater the chance of recovery." After these words to the family, Harry turned to Rose, "Rose, please have some of our staff take Mr Jack Longbottom to… Room 547, have Sophie…"

Harry's directions were interrupted, "I'm sorry for the interruption, Mr Harry Potter, but we have decided to go with the second option."

Harry turned, the choice came from Frank Longbottom. "Frank, as your year mate, I feel that I must warn you, are you sure you have the right to make such an important decision for Mr Jack Longbottom? You are only his cousin." He would not want the rest of the Longbottoms to start assigning blame if the treatment should fail.

Frank's eyes were filled with a complicated mix of emotions as he looked at his cousin, who was staring blankly back at him, hardening his resolve, he replied, "Yes, I will make this decision, the Longbottom family will take responsibility for any consequences. Mr Harry Potter, please use the second option to treat my cousin."

Harry's gaze swept over the other members of the Longbottom family, on receiving other nods in confirmation, he inclined his head to Frank, "Alright, I will administer the treatment to Mr Longbottom and do my best to heal him." He then turned to Rose, "Have Peter, Alice, Jean and John come to treatment room 1, we will be undertaking an extremely difficult and short healing procedure and I will need their help. Allan, I will need you as well." He patted Allan's shoulder.

Allan gave his assent then dragged Nicholas over with a slightly ingratiating smile at Harry, "Harry, could we have this scamp go in to observe? You know what kind of rare opportunity this could be for a new recruit! He's very smart and studious, he's also careful and conscientious, he's a wonderful budding healer."

At this, Harry cast a mystified glace at Nicholas, Allan is one of St Mungos' most experienced healer and this was rare praise for him, Harry had not thought a day would come that Allan would ask him for a favour, and on behalf of a new recruit! This young man must have really made an impression. No matter, his willingness to unveil this new method was to achieve the target of helping more people, it would be a good thing for this young man to see the procedure. "Alright, he can observe then."

"Thank you, Harry." Allan gave Nicholas a little nudge, "Aren't you going to thank Mr Potter?"

"Th… thank you, Director Potter!" Nicholas as ecstatic and couldn't believe this stroke of fortune! When his mentor had made this request to Harry on his behalf, he had not held much hope. This was because the healers that Harry requested to assist him were all veteran staff of St Mungos who were both well versed in both applying healing magic and had much experience, not something a new healer like him could compare against. He never expected Harry to grant Allan this favour, this was beyond his wildest expectations.

"It's Deputy Director." Harry again corrected Nicholas, "Remember, when you go in there, use your eyes to observe, your ears to listen and your brain to remember, but keep your much shut." He glared briefly at the new healer in warning.

Nicholas nodded in understanding, "The moment we go into the treatment room, I will cast a _Silencio_ on myself Director Potter!"

"Deputy Directory." Harry was somewhat exasperated. Even though he was in reality St Mungos' Director, officially he was still only the Deputy Director acting on behalf of the Director.

On the way to the fifth floor, Harry asked Nicholas a question that he had wanted to ask nine months ago, "Nicholas, why did you choose to become a healer at St Mungos after you graduated? Other young people your age have almost all gone to join the war."

Nicholas' reply was a question directed back at Harry, "Director Potter, it is **because** the war broke out that I came to St Mungos. Isn't this the time when St Mungos needs staff the most?"

**190.**

Harry led Nicholas to treatment room 501, noting in satisfaction that the five healers that he had requested were already present, Jack Longbottom sat unseeing on the treatment bed. Nicholas chose a quiet corner with a good view of the rest of the room and made his way other without prompting. Harry transfigured a chair and maneuvered Longbottom into it with the other healers, then he used _Incarcerous and Stupefy_ to ensure that the patient would not move or make a sound before the treatment.

He waved the other healers over and they gathered around him, Nicholas also shifted closer.

"As you all know, the magical world has had many wars in the past and from the first day the three unforgivables were created, they have been a major and formidable weapon on the battlefield. Many wizards believe that the _Avada Kedavra_ is the worst of the unforgiveables as it causes the victim to expire, but I believe that the one that causes the most pain and damage in wizards is the _Crucio_. Death is instantaneous and it brings pain to family and friends, but such pain eventually fades. Not so with the cruciatus. This curse was designed to torture wizards and those who are subjected to it must endure the pain for longer than if they were just killed, minutes, hours, even days, in the books I consulted I have even read records of those subjected to it for longer than several months. And that's not all, after the agony from prolonged exposure to the cruciatus, the majority of the victims lose their minds and can never be healed, spending the rest of their lives at St Mungos. I feel that this is the cruelest form of torture for the victim's family." He paused for a moment to centre his emotions. After taking a deep breath in and out, his turbulent emotions started to calm. "Now, after a long period of unrelenting research, there is a possibility of healing the damage caused by prolonged exposure to the cruciatus, even though the chances are low. Jack Longbottom is the first victim of prolonged exposure to the cruciatus that has come to us since the war started, I am determined that he will become our first example of healing, for this reason, all of you are here not only to assist me, you are also here as a learning experience. It is my hope that after this treatment, you will be able to get the knack of how to perform this treatment, after all, as the war goes on, we may have many other patients requiring the same treatment."

The other healers present wholeheartedly agreed with Harry's words, regardless of whether Jack Longbottom survives the treatment, at least Harry had brought hope to future patients.

"Research indicates that Jack Longbottom's mental illness is completely due to the fact that a person's body and mind cannot withstand the shock caused by the severe agony of the curse. And because it is too much, out of self-preservation, the body forces the brain to forget the pain and go into a state of hibernation, as the pain is too strong, this hibernation and isolation must completely block off all information exchange with the world outside of the mind thus resulting in Jack Longbottom's current condition. At the beginning of this hibernation, the patient's body and mind still retains some trace of memory of the pain caused by the cruciatus with the memory being clearest in the initial 24 hour period, these memories fade as time progresses until they are completely forgotten, at which point there is no more chance of recovery and healing." Harry shook his head in resignation, "The healing we will attempt if based on what I just described, which is why I must place such emphasis on the timing, the earlier the healing is undertaken, the better the chances of recovery. This type of treatment is called stimulation treatment, in the initial period after curse exposure, while the patient still retains some memory of the pain, we must continually use the cruciatus to stimulate his body, to keep the patient's body somewhat "awake", at the same time, another wizard must stimulate all parts of the patient's brain, forcing him to wake from his hibernation and exchange information with the outside world, this must continue until the communication and information exchange finally become smooth and unhindered, at which time the patient will be completely recovered. But this type of neural stimulation is quite painful and the extent of the pain may not be less than the cruciatus. It will be done in 45 minute sessions, at the end of each sections we will administer potions and have the patient's family and friends provide some solace and positive stimuli, such as kisses, touches, reminding the patient of events in the past etc., this is also an important step in waking the patient's brain."

Harry found that the bulk of the healers had no concept of what he was proposing, Allan understood some of it and Nicholas was nodding repeatedly after periods of deep thought. Harry suddenly realized what he had neglected, all five experienced healers were pureblodds with no understanding of muggle medical theories, Allan had discussed muggle medicine with Harry in the past so he understood some of what he was saying and Nicholas, with his muggle father and eleven years of living in the muggle world, would definitely understand where Harry was coming from.

Stimulation treatment was invented and perfected by the Order of the Phoenix in 2004, it was combination of magical healing and muggle medicine, Harry and Hermione had invested much time and effort into developing it. Even though the success rate was quite low, it was enough to bring jubilation to the magical world. However, making healers, who knew nothing about muggle medicine, understand these concepts might be somewhat difficult.

"How about this, you don't need to think too deeply on the rationale behind the treatment, just watch what I'm doing and do the same, we will catch everyone up to speed on medical knowledge in this area when we have time later." Harry compromised with some resignation.

Although slightly discouraged by the reactions of the healers, Harry still decided to proceed directly with the treatment. First he woke Jack Longbottom, then he silenced him and went to stand behind him and asked Allan to assist in the treatment. "Allan, please stand in front of Longbottom and cast the cruciatus on him."

Allan hesitated for a moment, not quite able to bring himself to cast an unforgiveable as everything that he had ever been taught had made him hate them with a passion, he had learned them half in secret after graduation but had never cast them on anyone before. He told himself that this was for the patient's sake, he is only using the curse to heal the victim and should not hesitate. Finally, mentally prepared, he walked up to Longbottom, whose empty expression and blank eyes inspired him. If it would help heal more of these unfortunate souls, the he WOULD use the cruciatus!

He lifted he wand and warned Harry, "I will now begin Harry." At Harry's assent, he shouted, "_Crucio!_"

As soon as the word rang out, Longbottom's body stiffened and his expression froze, eyes widened and staring, the next second, all the muscles in his body seemed to be jerking and twitching and his normally handsome face twisted into a grotesque mask due to the jerking. His eyes protruded and his mouth was opened so wide and an whole egg could fit inside, beads of sweat also broke out all over his forehead and hairline, quickly becoming a small river that soaked his robes in less than half a minute. If Longbottom could have made a sound, his tortured screams might have reached every corner of St Mungos and if he could move, he would have done anything in his power to lessen the pain, but Harry had made adequate preparations and he could only side stiffly in his chair, not even able to so much as move his head.

For a second Allan was overwhelmed with a myriad of emotions, wanting nothing but to just stop and let this poor man be, the vague, puzzled look in Longbottom's eyes made him feel like he was hurting someone instead of healing them. He wanted Harry to say something but at that moment, Harry started chanting a spell.

It was a long and extremely complicated incantations, combining magical and muggle language, seemingly chaotic but still progressing in accordance with some logical format, even though Harry had tried to suggest to Hermione that she shorten it somewhat so that more wizards and witches may be able to learn it quicker, nothing could be done. This treatment was inspired by electro-shock therapy in the muggle world so Hermione called it "electro therapy magic", through the incantation, electricity of different voltages stimulates the brain in various areas in an attempt to force it out of isolation and hibernation. The minimum voltage used in this treatment was 20 volts and the harmful side effects were obvious, after one minute, snot, tears and saliva ran freely from Longbottom's eyes, mouth and nose and the patient passed out several times.

One incantation resulted in a 15 minute period of electro stimulation, Harry paced back and forth during this time, checking to make sure that the electricity was stimulating different areas of the brain, within 45 minutes, he repeated this process three times.

After the treatment was finish, he almost slid to the ground, seeing his condition, Nicholas rushed over to prop him up, "Director Potter, are you alright?"

Harry was too tired to correct his form of address, he could only lean against Nicholas. The electro therapy took a great deal of magical power and he was in grave need of a long period of res. "Allan, I will leave the rest to you, we will conduct the second treatment at 3:00 this afternoon."

Allan wiped the sweat from Harry's brow and solemnly took over, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it, you go and rest."

The Longbottoms were anxiously waiting at the door of the treatment room, the moment the door opened, they rushed up to Harry, but the pallor and palpable exhaustion on Harry's face halted them in their strides.

"Please make way everyone!" Nicholas yelled, "If any of you have questions, please direct them to Healer Allan, Director Potter is very tired from performing the healing, please let him rest."

The crowd parted to let Harry and Nicholas pass, then they gathered around Allan and the other five healers. Allan raised his hands to calm the crowd and ask for silence, "As the treatment is quite painful, the patient's current condition is not optimal, it might even seem worse that when he arrive here, but this is normal. Mr Harry Potter told me that Jack Longbottom's reaction after the first treatment is the best that he has ever seen so please don't worry. We will be treating him again at 3:00 this afternoon. In three minutes, healers will be coming to administer potions to Mr Longbottom, once the potions have been administered, Mrs Jessica and Claudia Longbottom, Jack will need you." He turned to the two witches, "He needs your comfort and encouragement. Kiss him and touch him, and tried to remind him of what you had, to put it simply, make him remember you. We will have one hour." Then he turned back to the others, "All of you may also go in to see Mr Longbottom, try not to talk, if you must speak, keep your voices low and do not disturb the two ladies."


	21. Chapters 191-199

AN: Hi, long time no see, first the good news, after such a long absence I have a double post available, both Chapters 191-199 and Chapters 200-211 will be posted today. Enjoy!

Now some rambling and the reason behind the double post, feel free to skip ahead to the chapters if you prefer. So, having finally kicked myself into starting this again, I did as I usually do and opened the newest translation file, which I had completed about one and a half chapters for, and went to town. After plowing through almost the whole thing in one evening and finishing halfway through the next morning (today in fact), I then opened the previous translation file, after checking the story to see that I had, for some reason, not posted this file, I proceeded to check it through one last time before posting. Surprise, surprise I got to the end of the file and found myself short half a post, for some reason that utterly escapes me now, I had translated chapters 191-194 and then stopped, then I somehow started the 200-211 file and worked on that instead. WTF? Anyhow, I have now finished and checked both files and am posting them. As we are in the final stretch (only sixty or so chapters left to go) I hope that I can finish this without any more lengthy delays. Fingers crossed y'all!

HJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJP

**191.**

On this night, Harry was again returning home late into the night and as usual, Voldemort was waiting for him in their bed.

"How many times have I told you! Don't wait up for me! Why do you never listen?" Harry yelled in anger. Since the war started, Voldemort had been rising early every day, on some nights, he never even got to bed, Harry was getting increasingly worried about his health. Just because one had magic and potions did not mean that a human body could be turned into Superman.

Voldemort ignored all this to lovingly take his lover into his arms, uttering numerous words to placate Harry, "I know, I know, I'll go to bed early next time and not wait for you, don't fret." After which came many more promises to rest more, none which he intended to abide by. Voldemort's heart was melting like ice cream in summer at Harry's concern over him, this was one of the reasons why he was so willing to wait up for his lover.

As electro therapy required the expenditure of much energy, magical, physical and mental, Harry fell deeply asleep the moment his body and mind relaxed, the speed of his slumber both vexed and frightened Voldemort. The fear came from the fact that two simple sessions of healing were enough to tire Harry out so completely that even in sleep his face was filled with fatigue, Harry's condition just after the healing must have been much worse, while the anger came from his own sense of powerlessness, his inability to make Harry leave that damned job at St Mungos and change to a more leisurely career, all he could do was watch Harry go to work every day, working long hours and shifts, occasionally having to go back in on his days off because this patient or that needed his attention. Even though the previous director leaving Harry in charge of St Mungos was a sign of great trust and recognition, it had also placed an enormous burden on Harry's shoulders, one that he could not abandon and that might damage his health.

According to Nicholas' report, today's two healing sessions had consumed a significant amount of Harry's energy, resulting in this state of exhaustion, and this treatment would need to continue for more than one month, would Harry be able to get through such a harrowing process? He might collapse from over exertion before Jack Longbottom recovered. Nicholas also reported that those five healers had only been able to pick up 20-30% of the treatment details after assisting Harry in those two sessions, imbeciles! Nicholas in contrast, was almost half way there despite only being an observer.

At this, Voldemort could almost see in his mind's eye Nicholas reporting as he knelt in front of him on one knee, "Honored Master, according to my estimation, this stimulation treatment of Master Harry's was based on combining muggle medicine with magical healing, it could be said that it uses healing magic to practice muggle medicine. It never occurred to me that combining the two could have such a huge impact. After today's treatments, although it could not be said that there was a vast improvement, Jack Longbottom is already able to react when people talk to him, he is no longer completely non-responsive as he was when he was brought in.

Combining magical healing and muggle medicine… Voldemort had seen similar magic before, four years ago, when Harry was still a sixth year student at Hogwarts, he had taught the students of Slytherin House a series of new spells based on muggle theories, now these spells had become formidable weapons on the battlefield, this was also why he had started taking muggleborns into his ranks, Harry's demonstration today and the lack of understanding and comprehension of the pureblood healers strengthened Voldemort's resolve, muggles had their uses, muggleborns and halfbloods will also be the best and most competent underlings of pureblood wizards and witches of ancient lines.

As his thoughts roamed, his arms tightened around the soft body in his arms that smelled faintly of their fragrant body wash.

One month later, Jack Longbottom was discharged from St Mungos, the first ever recorded wizard to have recovered from insanity caused by prolonged cruciatus exposure. As the first to have adequately learned the stimulation therapy treatment, Nicholas was allowed to continue his training directly under Harry. Harry's reputation also soared. But to Harry, the joy from being able to help more people faded quickly.

As the end of 1985 approached, Harry increasingly felt that there was something wrong in his body. For a period of three months, he felt lethargic and weak, completely unlike what a man in his early twenties, with excellent health, should feel like. He immediately gave himself a thorough examination but could find nothing amiss, it was only with a dark magic diagnostic that he found that his life force was steadily weakening.

Which was to say that his life was now in countdown.

Harry could not accept this conclusion and repeated the diagnostic seven or eight times, all with the same result, he did not have long to live.

Why? He was only 21, why was his life force dwindling like that of a doddering old man? He had not used any magic that might take away his life force, nor had he consumed any damaging potions, so why was his life force weakening like a candle about to be extinguished in the wind?

Why?

**192.**

He soon found out the answer, Lily was pregnant! When the ecstatic young bride, blushing with happiness, informed her friends of this news, Harry's heart sank like a rock. He did his best to feign happiness and tender his congratulations, but for a moment his weakened body almost collapsed.

Two versions of the same person could not be in the same reality at the same time, muggle physicists all over the world agreed on this theory, coincidentally, there was a similar theory in the magical world. As time turners existed in this world, wizards and witches can, with the permission of the Ministry of Magic, go to see themselves in another time, but they are not allowed to stay for more than 24 hours, more than 24 hours and one version of that person will disappear. Time is immutable and only one version of a person can exist in each time.

And so Harry had fallen right into the dilemma of contravening one of the ironclad tenets of both the muggle and magical worlds.

He had come back to 1974 from 2011 using a time corridor 11 years ago, right now, in 1985, an unborn Harry Potter was growing in Lily's womb, obviously, the growth of this embryo would have the cost of the weakening of Harry's 21 year old body and the sapping of his life force, when infant Harry is born will likely be the day 21 year old Harry would have to face death. The worst thing was that if the 21 year old Harry wanted to turn this situation around and regain his health, then the one who would have to die would be that as yet unborn child and if the infant Harry were to die, then would the 21 year old Harry, who was essentially the same person, living in the same time, still be able to survive? No matter which way things went, the now 21 year old Harry will likely not be able to make it.

The Harry of 2011 would not have been afraid of death, at that time he was carrying the burden of leading the Order of the Phoenix and the responsibility of the lives of each Order member, he did not live for himself, he lived for the Order, he lived for every witch and wizard who fought against Voldemort and for the innocent muggles. It was only natural that once the Order that he lived for was gone, his life had no meaning, if he could exchange what little value he had left for the lives of tens of Order members, it would be his fondest wish to do so. At that time, the Order had completely failed in their task and so it should fall to him to take full responsibility and to preserve whatever embers of the Order that he could so that one day they may be able make a comeback. For this reason, Harry had almost embraced death with no hesitation whatsoever.

In comparison, although he was the same man, with the same soul, the Harry of 1985 was completely lacking in that willingness to make the noble self-sacrifice, he could not manage to face his destined demise with equanimity, he did not want to die, he wanted to live, for as long as possible.

He was no longer that despairing and empty Harry, with nothing left to live for, he now had something that he did not want to lose.

Voldemort, the one who had once been the greatest enemy of the Harry of 2011, someone who he had once been willing to fight to the death, the one who had murdered his parents and been responsible for the deaths of those mentors and friends that had been closest to him, an evil wizard, the Dark Lord, the one who was the lover of the Harry of 1985, an integral part of his life, as vital as the air in his lungs. Even though that man was lofty and solemn in front of his minions and cold and vicious in the eyes of outsiders, to Harry he was gentle, loving and unimaginably devoted.

Voldemort had given Harry countless affection and endless love, he was a combination of father, friend and lover all rolled into one, filling the well of emptiness and icy desolation that had filled Harry's life in the past decades, he had fulfilled Harry's wish for a family and loved ones. And this love did not come because he was "The Boy Who Lived", nor was it because he was "The Savior of the Wizarding World" or simply "The Savior", no, it was simply because he was Harry Potter, ordinary Harry Potter.

At the thought that he might never again see Voldy's smile or hear Voldy's voice, never again be able to touch Voldy's body, Harry's heart bled.

He and Voldy still had so many things left undone, they had yet to catch a dragon for Nagini to play with, nor to solve a Sphinx's riddle or hear the song of a siren, or to pick elvish fruit in the elven forest or climb Mount Everest, or to see the sun rise over the ocean nor the sun set over the Gobi desert. They had always thought that they had all the time in the world, enough for them to squander it. Once Harry had entered St Mungos, everyday seemed to have been filled with work, even during his breaks he had spent as much time as possible studying Healing magical theory, this was why Voldemort had always wanted to start the war, he wanted to first give Harry the world then spend their time travelling it happily. This was only natural given that they are wizards who with their tremendous power would live much longer than even the average wizard, so they had not treasured their time, thinking that they still had eternity together, unfortunately, their remaining time numbered only in months.

**193.**

After the initial shock, fear and unwillingness to let go, Harry calmed down quickly. He had to calm down quickly in order to carefully consider how to deal with this devastating news. He couldn't possibly keep it from Voldemort, even disregarding the suspicion that his weakening health would rouse, should he be able to keep his physical condition from Voldemort, he would still die when little Harry was born and it would be more cruel as well as unfair to allow Voldemort to deal with his death with no warning.

As Harry's lover, Voldemort had a right to know what had happened to Harry, he also had a right to know about Harry's past. At the very least, Voldemort had spent a long night with Harry telling him about his own past, of course, on the matter of his numerous past lovers, the man had wisely chosen to keep silent. Logically, Harry should also be honest with Voldemort, but due to various reasons and nebulous feelings, Harry has always refrained from telling him, Voldemort had been very understanding and had never asked, this was the way Harry's lover showed his trust and understanding, and now, Harry had to tell Voldemort, he could not betray Voldemort's trust and love, he can't let the man lose him without knowing why.

But before taking that step, Harry was still determined to try and find a way to solve the problem, alright, he still held on to a sliver of hope that there may be a way to resolve the issue without compromising either the baby's safety or his own.

After exhausting all the medical and time travel theory books, Harry sought out Snape. His friend who deeply loved the Dark Arts and DADA, but whose achievements in the field of potions was even greater, the complex and difficult potions used in the Shock Therapy was first brewed by Snape and then taught to the St Mungos potion master by Harry. Harry hoped that his friend, with his monumental achievements in both magic and potions, would be able to give him some ideas. And so, on a cold winter's day, he went to Snape's house, and succeeded in causing Snape to sweat profusely in his dark and slightly cold room.

On seeing the color emitted by his wand, Snape's face twitched violently, such a display of shock caused Harry to laugh. He glared at Harry, as though angry that Harry seemed so uncaring about his own situation.

"This is not funny Harry! How did you do this to yourself?! Do you know that you only have 7 months to live!" Snape yelled in a panic before retrieving various life-strengthening potions off the shelf and wrapping them up for Harry, grumbling as he pulled out tome after tome of magical texts and skimming through the contents.

"Of course I know, that's why I came to you." Harry nonchalantly went through the potions in the bag, picking up a particularly pretty bottle to play with.

Snape was so angry he wanted to smack Harry one, didn't this man have any feelings about his impending death! "Why are you so relaxed, haven't you thought about what might happen to Master Voldemort if you die?"

Harry's face immediately darkened and it was a while before he replied, "I will die, Sev. I have accepted this. This is why I must make arrangements for everything that I am concerned about, so that I can leave in peace. Both for Voldy and for you."

Snape lifted his head from the books he was busy going through, puzzled, "Me?"

"Remus Lupin." Harry said without inflection, "There's no use protesting Sev, I can't die peacefully with this unresolved." His words completely derailed Snape's rage, seeing his friend's desolate expression, Harry smiled sadly, "Don't worry, I have made arrangements."

Snape's pitch black eyes were shadowed with deep sorrow, he almost wept at hearing that Harry might not be able to "die peacefully". How did things get this bad? It was true that Harry didn't seem to be feeling very well the last few time he had seen him, but given that Harry himself was a very gifted healer, he had not given the matter much thought. He had never thought that in a matter of days, Harry would now be getting ever closer to death. "Don't you say that Harry, you will live! I swear this to you! I will do everything I can to save you! Also, Master Voldemort, he will not let you die, there is nothing Master Voldemort cannot do! You have to believe in him!"

"Of course Sev, Voldy can do anything." Harry played with the potion in his hands and nodded. Nothing in this world was all-powerful Sev, not even Merlin, otherwise he wouldn't have died, would he? Harry thought.

As he left, Harry made one request of his friend, "Sev, please, let me tell Voldy about this, alright? I don't want him to have to face any more shocks, trust me, I will tell him within the week."

Forcing down the pain in his heart, Snape acceded to his best friend's first, and last, request.

**194.**

After a couple more days, they had a rare break and Harry invited Rose to have coffee with him. They sat in Harry's office, in front of the floor length window, enjoying the snowy view. This year's snow fell especially heavily, covering St Mungos in a blanket of white, children lacked the adults' worries and ran around the courtyard in front of the hospital joyfully, engaging in snowball fights, their laughter bringing smiles to the adults' faces.

Harry watched the wizarding children enviously, his heart bittersweet. If it wasn't for his current fragile condition, he might have spent this rare break outside, feeling the beautiful world of snow. Alas, he drank another mouthful of coffee, savoring the rich aroma as it slid down his throat, warming his currently cold-fearing body. "Winter has arrive, will Spring be far behind?"

Rose snorted, "Harry, when did you become a poet?"

Harry gave a brief smile, "Just now. Rose, do you like Spring?"

The girl nodded emphatically, "Of course. It is the season of renewal, the beginning of a year."

"A spring wedding would be wonderful." Harry words seemed to be idle conversation.

"Yes! My parents had a spring wedding, they said that it felt especially wonderful." Rose's reply was wistful. She also wanted a spring wedding, receiving their friends' and families' good wishes with her beloved Richard. But old Baron Colson didn't like her, even though she was one of Harry's most trusted subordinates.

Truly, every girl had countless dreams for their own future wedding, Harry thought. "In that case, you would not object if old Baron Colson set the wedding date for March 6th?"

What?! Rose couldn't believe her own ears, what had she just heard? Did Harry say "wedding"? And old Baron Colson? Everyone knew that Baron Colson only had one son and one daughter and the daughter was still at school, not even engaged, so the only one that he could be setting a wedding date for was his only son Richard. And Harry had asked her if she would object, this meant that… did Harry… Oh Merlin!

"Ha…Harry, if I understand you correctly, you… are you saying that…" She took a deep breath and continued, voice trembling, "Are you saying that old Baron Colson has agreed to Richard and I getting married?"

"Yes." Harry replied.

Rose immediately set her coffee cup aside, worried that she would drop it otherwise, disgracing herself in front of Harry. "But... but… but doesn't Baron Colson think that we should wait until Richard has made some achievements in the war before we talked about marriage?" Due to the Baron's insistence, Harry's plans of having Richard and Rose marry right after graduation had been set aside. Although the Baron did not want to offend Harry, their Master's mate, he still did not hesitate to delay as much as possible, suggesting that Richard achieve some accolades before marriage. Most people were of course aware that the old nobleman simply didn't want a muggleborn daughter in law and was thus delaying as much as possible. Richard had more than once complained to Harry about the numerous witches that his father paraded in front of him.

Harry couldn't wait any longer. "You and Richard are both old enough and old Baron Colson wants to hold his grandchildren." Harry lied. If he didn't make sure this marriage occurred before he died, as soon as he passes, Rose's hopes will be dashed. This is why he had Voldemort force the baron the make a decision. Voldemort was under the impression that Harry truly thought Rose was getting too old and should be married.

Rose was overjoyed and couldn't help standing up and twirling around the room. She had waited so long for this day, finally she would be able to stand at Richard's side and not have to feel uncomfortable about the other women parading around him. She did not forget to thank Harry with a kiss to his cheek, "Thank you Harry." Of course she understood that without Harry's support, Richard would have been married off to some pureblood princess by now.

"Harry, why are you so cold? Have you caught a chill?"

Harry waved negligently, "I'm fine, I'm a healer remember?"

Just before their shift ended, Nicholas came to Harry's office as ordered then immediately froze in shock at the sight of the mountain of parchment, piled so high it almost reached the ceiling.

Harry didn't waste time with idle chatter, pointing at the parchments he said, "One month, memorize all these scrolls. I will check your progress at the end of the month, you get one question wrong, 10 volts of electro shock, two wrong, cruciatus, three wrong and I'll let Voldy punish you."

Nicholas paled dramatically at Harry's words, then flushed, and paled again before darkening, at Harry's final statement he became even paler than before. Not only as Harry's request and punishment too severe, but also because Harry had pointed out his secret position. "Master Harry… you…" He stammered.

"Just because I don't participate in these matters, doesn't mean that I don't know anything." Harry smirked, "Any more questions Nicholas?"

"N… no, Master Harry!"

Nicholas walked despondently out of the office with the stack of parchment taller than him and Harry's smirk immediately disappeared. He needed to find a successor and the next Director of St Mungos. Allan, of course, was an indisputable candidate, but he leaned more towards the Order of the Phoenix, Harry's only choice was Allan. If Harry was still alive, St Mungos could stay neutral, but who could guarantee this after Harry died? The stores kept in St Mungos' cellar, the hidden support that St Mungos had, all this could be a huge advantage no matter which side St Mungos leaned towards, this might be the straw that broke the camel's back! Even now, St Mungos was filled with various eddies of power and it was only Harry's authority that kept them all in check, if Harry were to leave the post of Acting Director, if there was no suitable balancing force to take over, St Mungos would be plunged into anarchy. Allan was a good solid man who was easily persuaded, combined with his admiration for the Order, if someone were to start whispering in his ear, St Mungos might turn fully towards supporting the Order. He had to leave a stable support for the Death Eaters, someone who had the support and approval of many and could raise a clear standard at the appropriate moment, Nicholas, with his half-muggle parentage, was the best candidate.

In this past year, Voldemort had been secretly recruiting wizards and witches with muggle ancestry, possibly with the intention of infiltrating the muggle world. This had seemed to speed up in the last three months, two weeks ago he had even met with the muggle prime minister for dinner and had placed some aurors near him.

Things seemed to be moving in a more positive direction, Harry thought as he leaned into the back of his chair in exhaustion.

**195.**

The sixth day after his meeting with Snape coincided with Harry's day off. For more than six months Harry had still gone to work on this day but this time, surprisingly, Harry decided to rest instead, "Don't disturb me." He said to Rose, "I need a day of solitude."

For the whole of that day, Harry was at Voldemort's side, his scorching passion almost melted Voldemort and was a rather wonderful surprise. He had wondered at Harry motive initially, "Has something happened? Do you need my help with something?" But Harry had denied his queries with a deep, passionate kiss, "I just wanted to spend some time with you, don't you want that?"

"Of course I do."

For dinner, Harry instructed the house elves to prepare a table full of delicious dishes, he even drank two goblets of a rather potent wine. Finally, Voldemort could not restrain himself anymore, "Harry, do you have something you need to tell me? This is not like you." In order to be as aware and clear-headed as possible in case of an emergency at work, Harry never drank anything potent after he started working at St Mungos.

Harry put down his goblet with a smile, "Can't I just want to have a drink with you? You are always complaining that I won't have a drink with you." He blinked innocently.

"Harry." Voldemort's expression became more severe, "I am your lover, if there is anything troubling you, you can tell me, you do not have to take it all on by yourself. You have been behaving quite unlike yourself today and I am not blind."

With a silent huff, Harry lowered his head as tears started to blur his vision. He did not want to be the one to reveal such terrible facts to his lover, how he wished that it was all just a figment of his imagination and he was still healthy and well.

"Harry!" Voldemort stood abruptly from his seat in order to come around to physically comfort Harry. He was well aware of Harry's nature, not much could make him cry as he was used to keeping everything locked tight inside, any tears he wept would be in the silence of his own mind. But today, Harry was crying in front of him, what has happened?!

"Don't come over!" Harry's voice was sharp and halted Voldemort in his tracks, "Sit down! Please don't come over here Voldy, if you do I will never have the courage to say this."

"But, you're crying..."

"Even so! If you come over, I will utterly loose all courage..." Harry sobbed but remained insistent.

Helplessly, Voldemort handed over a handkerchief and watched Harry wipe his tears, his heart aching.

"Let me tell you a story..." Harry lifted his head, his eyes filled with resolve, there was nothing to be done, if it had to come, let him face it with dignity. "The story... began in 1997, with a young eleven year old boy named Harry James Potter..."

Harry had always thought that he was just an ordinary boy, but on his eleventh birthday a giant came to him and told him that he was wizard. On the train to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry met his future best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he also met Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy, who would become Harry's rival. Harry's childhood from that point on was not a smooth or enjoyable one, the shadow of a Dark Lord named Voldemort was always hanging over him. Voldemort was the master of a group called the Death Eaters and he wanted to conquer and rule the entire world, he tried to kill Harry when he was still a baby but was vanquished by him instead, he left a lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forehead and this scar gave Harry the ability to speak parseltongue. When Harry was fifteen, Voldemort was resurrected, and when he was seventeen, war broke out. Due to the death of Dumbledore, the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry, who had defeated Voldemort before was made the Order's leader, but this time, after nine years of war, it was Voldemort who triumphed. To protect the lives of members of the Order, Harry decided to sacrifice himself but instead, he fell into the Time Corridor and went to 1938, there he met the child who would one day become Voldemort and who was named Tom Riddle. At first Harry wanted to kill Tom but due to their similar childhoods he could not do it and instead he walked away, upon returning to the Time Corridor, he came out of it again at 1974, he again became a Hogwarts student but this time he did not insist on going to Gryffindor and so the sorting hat placed him in Slytherin and he became friends with Severus Snape, Voldemort, the head of Slytherin House became his teacher. After five years, Harry and Snape had become rivals with the premier students of Gryffindor house, James Potter and Sirius Black, despite the fact that James would one day be his father and Sirius his Godfather. After that, Voldemort inserted his overpowering presence into Harry's life, the man's gentle caring and love, his indulgence and pampering caused Harry to fall in love with his once enemy and after Harry's graduation, they began to live together. Originally, Harry thought that the two them could live like this forever but he discovered that he will soon die as his mother, Lily Potter, was pregnant.

The story might have been a good one, but Harry had never been good at spinning tales and the story sounded rather flat and ordinary. However Voldemort's expression went through many changes from the beginning of the tale to the end, from confused, mystified, mirthful to disbelieving, solemn, shocked, thoughful and finally to fearful.

Not able to restrain himself anymore, he ran to towards Harry and embraced him, watching the grey light on his wand from the diagnostic charm, tears fell from his eyes, "Harry, Harry, why didn't you tell me earlier? You... you could die, you idiot!"

**196.**

With one had holding tightly to Voldemort, Harry used the handkerchief in his other hand to wipe away his lover's tears, as he felt the man's body shudder from the immense pain and sorrow Harry's heart again filled with fiery emotions and tears poured from his own eyes. "I am sorry Voldy, so very sorry. In truth I wanted to tell you these things long ago, I haven't wanted to keep any secrets from you for a long time, but for some reason, every time I tried to tell you, I would get a bad feeling, though something was about to go wrong, and so I hesitated. I've been so weak, only wanting to live a peaceful life, not wanting anything to disrupt our happiness, and so I chose to keep this from you again and again. I never thought that it would turn out like this, I feared that if I didn't tell you now I would never have the chance to do so. Voldy, can you forgive me?"

"For... forgive you, what are you talking about... I could never blame you for any of this!" Voldemort's currently blurry eyes stared straight at the pale face of his lover who was currently encircled in his arms, tightening his arms around Harry and feeling the slight chill in his body, waves of regret assaulted him, he had been spending so much time working that he hadn't even noticed the changes in Harry's body. He had been so busy recently, compared to Dumbledore he had virtually nothing to build relations on in the muggle world and it was imperative that he build up a network there in the shortest amount of time. Luckily that old coot was not nearly as well established in the muggle world as he liked to claim, with only the barest minimum of contact with some senior government officials of the muggle English government as well as assigning these same officials with some protection from the Auror Department. Such a superficial relationship would be quite easily to destroy, especially considering the fact that Voldemort had already had a secret audience with her majesty the Queen- at least for now, he would still call her that, after all, he himself was rather interested in that crown of hers. If he were to succeed in uniting the magical and muggle worlds, as the great wizard who ushered in a new age, it would be natural for him to ascend the throne. Perhaps because of this and given the fact that Nicholas had been stationed at Harry's side, he had not taken time to look deeper into the changes in Harry. When had his Harry's face become so pale? When had his beloved's body become so chilled? Despite being a Slytherin, his Harry's rosy cheeks and warm body had always been more like that of a Gryffindor! "This is my fault Harry, I have been too busy with my work and have not paid enough attention to you, otherwise..."

Harry put his hand over Voldemort's mouth to halt his words as he shook his own head, "No Voldy, you did nothing wrong. Everything you have been doing has been what you have worked for and wanted for decades, it should not... it cannot be delayed because of me, I never wished to be a burden. Lily is pregnant and when her child is born and grows to adulthood, it will be another me, we can still be together, so go and do what you must, otherwise I will not be able to die in peace."

"But that child will not be you, he will be someone else!" Voldemort eyes darkened to an enraged blood red at the mere thought of the babe in Lily Potter's belly that was the cause of his Harry's imminent death.

Harry kissed the man repeatedly in hopes of calming his rage, "Voldy, he is me, just without my memories, but I will return to my own time and when that happens, he will be me."

Voldemort shook his head in denial, "I cannot allow you to die for some nebulous reason like that. He is him and you are you. I will not kill him, I will even protect his friends and family, but that does not mean that I must give up on you living. I will have you by my side, forever."

Harry's tears started falling again.

It was late when Voldemort carried Harry to their huge bed and covered his body with the duvet, "Harry, tell me what potions you have been taking, tell me everything, I must devise a new treatment regiment for you."

"Sev and I have discussed this, we used..." Harry then provided a long list of spells and potions, many of which Harry wasn't even aware existed prior to this, lord knows which musty tome Snape dug them out from. "We only briefly tried many of these, I am afraid that anything too effective might cause harm to the child inside Lily."

The child in Lily Potter's belly... Voldemort's expression darkened again at the thought of the child. This was the sticking point, hurt the child and Harry would be most upset, kill the child and Harry might disappear, but allowing the child to be born healthy into this world might be tantamount to sending Harry to his death, "Damn it! That damned brat!"

In his heart, he did not consider that growing babe to be Harry, it is likely that even their names would be different, given that the cowardly James Potter with his hidden feelings for Harry would never give his child the same name as the object of his desires- the babe would just be another Potter, a Potter who will look just like Harry, but just another Gryffindor. The one he loved, the one he treasured, was the Harry in front of him right now, the Harry James Potter that had been with him for decades.

"Voldy, that is me." Harry shook his head in resignation.

"Alright, alright, I won't say anything more." Voldemort waved his hand in surrender. "You rest, I want to look through some books."

Harry's hand on the hem of his shirt kept him from moving away, "It's late Voldy, won't you come to bed with me? I want to sleep with you here."

The sorrowful longing in his lover's emerald green eyes were like a blow to Voldemortls heart. All he could do was climb into bed and take Harry into his arms, holding him tighter and tighter. "I love YOU Harry, only you."

"I know. I love you too Voldy."

**197.**

The next morning, Harry, as usual, woke up at the alarm, went through his morning ablutions, then made his way downstairs for breakfast.

On seeing Harry appear at the entrance of the dining room, Voldemort's first reaction was confusion, bed rest was something that Harry needed and must have at present, so why... the next moment confusion became anger, after Harry sat down, he started to speak, his face grim, "Harry, do not tell me that you are still going to go to work at St Mungos today."

Hearing the undisguised anger in Voldmort's voice, Harry huffed a silent sigh. He more than anyone understood that the best thing for his current condition was bed rest, but right now was not a good time to leave St Mungos in Allan's hands, at the very least, he had to wait until Nicholas could stand strong on his own. "You are correct Voldy, I am going to work. Let me explain." He hurriedly added before Voldemort could voice his, no doubt, loud objections.

Voldemort controlled his anger as much as possible but his tone was still explosive as he replied, "No matter your reasons, right now you cannot go to St Mungos! You are a patient and you must consider your own health, the exhaustion of work will only further exacerbate the draining of your life force, you must rest!" He tone softened as he continued earnestly, "Even if you don't care about your own body, surely you can think of me? You doing this will only cause me to worry more!"

Harry smiled at him in consolation but was resolute. "Voldy, of course I have valid reasons for doing this. Do you remember Nicholas?"

"Nicholas? Nicholas who?" Voldemort froze, could Harry have found out about Nicholas? But how could that be, in order to allow Nicholas to better assist Harry, he hadn't even marked the lad, determined that he would appear every inch a neutral.

Harry found his lover's pretended nonchalance quite humorous as his simply nodded, "Nicholas Barclay, eighteen years of age, Gryffindor graduate of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, joined the Death Eaters last August, and you didn't even give him the dark mark."

Voldemort's expression was something to behold. Anyone would have had the same reaction if they were suddenly faced with their lover, who always seemed completely unconcerned and oblivious, suddenly revealing that they in fact knew every little detail about his work. He wasted several seconds trying to determine which of his underlings had let slip this information to Harry but quickly gave that up as a lost cause given the sheer number of possible candidates, more than he could possibly work through for sure. More than a third of the wizards and witches that he had recruited in the last four years had been fans of Harry. Well, at least this indicated that his little Harry did care about his work. Voldemort's mood lightened. "Ah, right, I remember, that little Gryffindor. Although half his blood is muggle, he is quite intelligent and he's an admirer of yours, as he was interested in becoming a healer I sent him to St Mungos. If it wasn't for his half muggle blood I might have marked him. Such a shame." He shook his head in feigned disappointment as he sighed.

Harry rolled his eyes while Voldemort was distracted. Did Voldemort really think that he knew nothing about this? After the war started Voldemort began to accept halfbloods and even muggleborns into the ranks of the Death Eaters and in the past six months there had been a veritable surge of wizards with muggle blood joining the ranks, in the past year or so, more than a dozen followers with "impure" blood had risen to ranks equal to pureblood wizards and these followers had all been marked! Harry was well aware of the reason why Voldemort had not marked Nicholas but it would not do to embarrass his lover too much. As Voldemort had the best of intentions, he decided not to call the man on his charade. "Yes, it is such as shame. He doesn't seem too pleased with his own blood status, he's always saying that he will marry a pureblood wife to elevate his standing." And it must be someone from an old, noble family, Nicholas was very insistent on this. He should be able to achieve this goal after the war, once he becomes the Director of St Mungos.

"Hm, that would have to wait until the lad has achieved some results." Voldemort snorted. He had high hopes for Nicholas being able to make innovations in the field of combining magical healing with muggle medicine. With some accomplishments in this field, marrying the daughter of a powerful and noble pureblood line would not be out of the question.

**198.**

"How fortuitous, I was just about to help him achieve some results." Harry replied with a smile.

Voldemort was suddenly reminded that up till now, Harry had not taken on a healing apprentice, thinking that Harry only wanted to teach Nicholas, the only mediwizard that Harry found agreeable, everything he knows, Voldemort waved his hand in dismissal. "Absolutely not. If you want to teach Nicholas I can have him come to the Manor after work for his lessons, I cannot let you go to St Mungos in your current condition."

Harry was exasperated as he couldn't help rolling his eyes again. Yes, he did want Nicholas to become his first, and last, apprentice, so that even after his death the standard of healing in the magical world will continue to improve and develop further, and indeed this is what he will do. But, would he really make the effort of going to St Mungos just for that? Of course he would be aware that Voldemort could have Nicholas come to the Manor for private lessons! "That's not why I'm going to St Mungos. I do of course care about my body and if there wasn't a very good reason, I would never put myself through this."

"Then why must you bloody well go to work?!" Finally pushed beyond his limits, Voldemort yelled out his question, the panic and fear building up since last night finally exploded. No matter what he said, Harry just couldn't put down those patients of his! But how could the health of those people compare to Harry's own health? Voldemort didn't give a damn about healers' professional integrity or oaths, his precious Harry was ill and might soon leave this earth, with that in mind, he was nowhere near noble enough to allow his Harry to suffer in that place which is frantic almost 24 hours a day. He had long despised this job that had robbed Harry of sufficient time to rest, if Harry must work, he could arrange a position at the Ministry, perhaps a minor position in the Muggle Liaison office. If Harry doesn't want to join the Ministry then even better, he could just rest at Voldemort Manor, he could send Severus to stay with Harry. As for those patients waiting for Harry to treat them, to the devil with them! "I'm telling you Harry, don't even mention any rubbish about patients, I will not agree to this!"

Seeing that Voldemort was well and truly angered, Harry put down his knife and fork before getting up and walking over to Voldemort's side. The man wouldn't even glance at him, but his hand immediately crept over to rest on his waist. Harry hid a chuckle. "Voldy, please listen to me and don't be angry." He cleared his throat before continuing, "If I am not there to hold the reins at St Mungos, Allan will become the Director. He has the seniority and the healing skills, he is also friendly and approachable and is happy to help others, everyone at St Mungos likes him and with his current position of Chief Healer, no one would protest his advancement to Director. But his does have one vital flaw, he is too indecisive and easily swayed. I am sure you are aware of the internal politics of St Mungos, the two to three hundred staff there are divided into various factions with those who either belong to or support the Order of the Phoenix being in a slightly stronger position. Many of these people are healers with many years of experience and their influence on Allan is substantial. As for our side, they are mostly young and few have the seniority or years of experience that could match them against the order members or sympathizers. As long as I am there, I can hold back the factions, but if I am gone, Allan would fall under the wizards of the Order and might even turn St Mungos into a hospital that only treats members of the Order. When Director Moore promoted me to the post of Acting Director, it was in an effort to use the authority of the position to keep the "power" of the Order in check. So no matter what, I cannot allow Allan to become the Director at this point in time."

"The Death Eaters have their own healers." Voldemort had never placed much weight on St Mungos, his followers mostly had their own family healers, if worse came to worse they could just use those healers.

"Then what about the St Mungos Aurors? How will you break down anti-magic wards there? And what about the things that are in the basement at St Mungos?" Harry was becoming frustrated as he fired his questions one after another. If St Mungos were to become another Hogwarts, then Voldemort would not have much hope of winning this war.

The string of questions effectively stopped Voldemort in his tracks, he had to admit that things were not as simple as he had thought. In truth one could not blame him, during all the previous wars, St Mungos had been a neutral ground that was paradoxically considered both important and insignificant by all sides of the conflicts, thus Voldemort had simply looked at St Mungos without Harry as simply a place where patients were healed and neglected the power behind the place. Alright, so St Mungos is quite important, but Harry, Harry was MORE important. "I still don't agree with you going to work there, it could damage your body too badly, if you were to leave me, even if I conquered the world it would have no meaning."

**199.**

Harry was overcome with emotion at these words, he embraced Voldemort and pressed a deep kiss to his lover's lips before providing his loved one with a comforting promise. "Dearest Voldy, I know my own body and I do not intent to stay at St Mungos for much longer. As soon as Nicholas is fully able to take on the position that I have arranged for him at St Mungos, I will return to the Manor and rest as much as I need. Is this acceptable?"

After careful consideration, Voldemort arranged for a house elf to accompany Harry to St Mungos in order to take care of him whenever necessary. "Although these pitiful little creatures are quite worthless otherwise, their ability to serve is unmatched and they are quite capable in their usage of magic, I can only relax if you have him with you."

Although Harry did not really want to have a house elf following him around at work, he did worry that his body might give out at any moment, in order to keep any such situation from his colleagues, having a house elf at hand to take care of things in any sudden mishaps might be handy. And so Harry nodded his agreement. "Alright, that's what we will do."

Recently, Nicholas was by turns elated and depressed, one moment he would be as high as though he had just taken a Pepper Up potion and the next he would be as down and gloomy as if he had just seen a grim. The culprit that caused his roller coaster like emotions- no, no, no, how could he use such a disrespectful word to describe great master Harry, he mentally gave himself a slap on the head.

Anyway, after becoming great master Harry's first apprentice, his days of happy suffering began.

To be able to closely observe and even touch Master Harry was his greatest happiness to date. Master Harry was perfection made real: beauty, elegance, power, he looked fragile but was in fact incredibly strong, he possessed all the best qualities of noble purebloods and he was kind, compassionate, just and fair, it was hard to believe that he had half muggle blood running in his veins, he was more like a pureblood than pureblood wizards that came from old, powerful and noble families! Master Harry had so much knowledge and he had ways of treating even the most obscure and difficult cases, no matter how complex the incantation, he could complete it, he was even able to combine magic with muggle medicine, establishing a new brilliant chapter in the field of healing!

Master Harry had lived up to all Nicholas' expectations of his idol and to be the recipient of personal instruction by Master Harry was the highest honor of he, Nicholas Barclay's entire life!

But... still... Nicholas glanced around, and seeing that there was nobody else around, allowed his face to fall into a grimace as the teensiest, tiniest negative point in the massive fortune of being at Harry's side again raised its ugly head, last time, he had gotten the potion dosage in the treatment of a werewolf bite wrong by one gram and had been punished with 15 volts of electro shock, the time before that, he could not recall the lengthy and complicated charm to heal the damage from a freezing curse and he was punished by being thrown into the pool in front of the hospital building, it was January and freezing, the time before that, he had been so distracted watching Master Harry that he had caused a patient some pain and he was punished with a leglocker curse for more than five hours, during which he had to hope like a kangaroo if he wanted to go anywhere... but none of these incidences were the most terrifying, no, the most terrifying experience was the healing knowledge test that he was given five days ago. One month ago, his wise and learned Master Harry had presented Nicholas with all his knowledge and the results of his research in written form and asked him to memorize everything within one month, Nicholas had somehow managed to cram everything into his memory within this period. But Master Harry was so strict, if he took even a second to recall something, the first time he was punish with an electro shock and the second time it was a _Crucio_, thank Merlin he was able to answer all subsequent questions fluently, he dreaded to think the third punishment, Master Harry would have asked Honored Master Voldemort to administer the punishment and then Nicholas would really have wished for death!

Such days filled him with both elation and worry. And to think that he had wanted to spend as long as possible at Master Harry's side, he had once even thought to slow down the pace of his learning, even though Master Harry would have tossed him to Master Voldemort is he were to do so, but after being severely warned by Master Voldemort, he could only hope that Master Harry taught him faster...


	22. Chapters 200-211

AN: So the second part of the double post, enjoy!

Again a little bit of a side note. When I started my translation again yesterday, I had a bit of a scare as when I went to the website where the original story was posted, I found that all links to the story seems to be gone. Even worse, I could not even find the author or any of her other works on the site. After panicking for a little while, I tried a couple of searches and finally found the entire story on someone else's website. Not about to be faced with anther scare like that, I promptly copied and save the entire thing (including the text for the chapters that I had already translated), and saved it on my own PC. Upon further reading, is seems that there was some dispute of hubbub relating to another of the author's stories, which resulting in everything of the author's being taken down. Phew! Bullet dodged there!

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**200.**

February 3rd, 1986, it was on this cold and dark winter's night that Albus Dumbledore arrived at the Hogshead Pub. Several days ago he had received an application for the position of Professor of Divination, though Hogwarts already has a Divination Professor who, although quite old, should still have one or two years of teaching left in him. However, as the woman who applied is the great-granddaughter of a very talented and reputable seer, at the least he had to discuss the matter with her in person.

Not many frequented the Hogshead during winter and the war further cut the number of patrons by another ten or twenty percent, right now, including Dumbledore himself, there were only seven customers. A pale vampire lounged lazily in a corner drinking cheap wizard's blood, his empty eyes seeming to stare a hole through the wall, three drunks were at the bar yelling for more booze, even though most of their drinks ended up on their clothing rather than in their stomachs, two dark and gloomy witches were smoking their pipes as they gazed uncaringly at the moonless night sky, drinking Firewhiskey in gulps.

Dumbledore found this a rather seedy and desolate scene, the war had caused an already sparsely frequented pub to become even more quiet. As the lady in question had yet to arrive, he found a quiet corner and settled down to wait with a mug of mead.

After fifteen minutes, a woman with a strange scent walked into the pub. She was very thin and a pair of spectacles magnified her eyes by several times, necklaces and strands of beads hung from various parts of her body and she was draped in a crepe shawl. Her somewhat vacant gaze drifted over the pub before she almost seemed to float towards Dumbledore, after arriving in front of him, she spoke and her voice was soft and indistinct, "Headmaster Dumbledore, how do you do? I am Sybil Trelawney."

So she was the one who had sent the application. Dumbledore asked her to sit and the two spent a brief amount of time talking. The conclusion was that he had made a complete and utter mistake by coming here today, obviously the great seer's great-granddaughter had not inherited even a thousandth of her ancestor's talent in divination as all she spoke was nonsense. And so he resolved to take his leave, after all there were many Order of the Phoenix matters awaiting for his attention. He stood and made his words as diplomatic as he could, "Miss Trelawney, I am truly sorry but Hogwarts already has a Divination professor and his health is quite robust. I am sure that you will be able to get another, better position."

Trelawney was obviously disappointed but was good-natured and courteous enough in her reply.

As Dumbledore turned to leave, he suddenly heard a discordant and rough voice from behind him, "_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…_"

Shocked, he immediately turned around to find Trelawney sitting stiffly in her chair, her eyes glazed and chin lowered, speaking in that curiously raspy voice.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him… born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him…_"

Due to the urgency of the matter, Dumbledore could not take too many precautions, he was only able to charm all the other patrons to sleep with a _Stupefy_, luckily this was not difficult to do.

Trelawney was still continuing with the prophecy, "_They are enemies but they can also be lovers… the one who raises the child shall be the key… one shall die by the other's hand… or the two shall join hands and plunge the world into darkness…_"

After uttering the last phrase, Trelawney's head dropped to rest on her chest, then suddenly, she lifted her head and stared curiously at Dumbledore, asking in her indistinct voice, "Headmaster Dumbledore, why do you look so shocked?"

She doesn't remember what she just did? Dumbledore's thoughts spun at the speed of light and he made a brand new decision after hearing Trelawney's prophecy. "Miss Trelawney, it has just occurred to me that our Divination Professor is getting a little too old and might require the assistance of someone a bit younger and more energetic, are you willing to be that person?"

Trelawney was obviously overjoyed and the two agreed that she would make her way to Hogwarts that very evening, "Alright then, you and I can make our way to Hogwarts and I will send someone to retrieve your belongings." Dumbledore appeared every inch the caring boss and Trelawney was very grateful.

The two apparated to Hogwarts and Dumbledore arranged quarters for Trelawney. After saying goodbye to her, Dumbledore pushed his glasses back into position , thinking on how exciting a day it turned out to be. The one he had originally thought to be an incompetent divination lover turns out to have inherited her great-grandmother's talent and had made a true prediction… recalling said prediction, Dumbledore started to frown, enemies or lovers? The one who raises the child shall be the key?

After Dumbledore and Trelawney left, the patrons of the pub all woke at once.

The vampire smiled happily, "After spending so long here, we have finally heard a prediction, our honoured master will be very pleased."

"Boss, what should we do with the pub owner and the serving staff? Should we kill them?" One of the drunks asked.

One of the witches replied, "Idiot! Kill them and you will let Dumbledore know that our master has learned of the prophecy."

"Right. We can't kill them. Let's go, our master is waiting to hear from us." Decision made, the vampire apparated away with his underlings.

After around twenty seconds, the vampire suddenly reappeared and looked closely at the owner and the serving staff, after confirmed that they had not moved, he again apparated away.

After five seconds, the two got up quickly, "Notify Albus, Voldemort knows the whole prophecy."

**201.**

Voldemort sat on his high golden throne, blood red eyes narrowed and slender fingers lightly tapping the arms of the throne, creating echoes in the vast hall.

All the servants had left the room so that their respected master could consider the matter at hand, no one was to disturb him.

A vampire moved purposefully through the long, dark corridor towards the entrance of the hall, his golden hair was held back in a ponytail with a silver ribbon and his narrow, blue eyes were filled with smugness, his formfitting black velvet robe was covered with a silk cloak of the same color and a blood red rose was pinned to his lapel. At this moment he was the epitome of high-class elegance, not a shred of the seedy desolation shown in the Hogshead remained.

The servants at the entrance of the hall blocked the vampire's way, "Count Dracula, the master is contemplating important matters, please wait for a moment."

Dracula frowned and replied, quite displeased, "Our master ordered that we must report to him immediately upon completion of our task, regardless of time or place. This is a very important matter, open this door right now or you will all be sent to hell for delaying an important matter for our master!"

At that moment, Voldemort's voice drifted out from inside the hall, "Dracula, is that you? Come in."

"Yes, my great master, it is I." Dracula bowed as he replied.

The servants pulled open the grand, rococo style doors and Dracula solemnly adjusted his already immaculate attire before striding into the hall with his head held high. Upon reaching the dais he dared not stare straight at Voldemort, he knelt on one knee to make his report, "Wise and most powerful master, after a month of waiting, my people and I finally heard the complete prophecy of Sybil Trelawney in the Hogshead pub. Allow me to be frank honored master, but this prophecy poses a grave threat to you." Some of his smugness showed though in his voice which nevertheless displayed an appropriate amount of concern for Voldemort's situation. This performance both showed that his own intelligence was not overly high and that he was loyal to his superior.

Voldemort gave an almost non-existent smile and put aside the scroll he was perusing, which was filled with ideas of new potions that might help Harry, he brought his thoughts back to the news Dracula had brought him. Even thought it was taking quite some time, at least these underlings were not stupid and had brought him the full prophecy, not like that imbecile Snape who, according to Harry, has been thrown out by Dumbledore after only hearing half the prophecy. "Dracula, tell me everything, in detail."

"Of course my great master." Dracula replied before describing everything from the moment Dumbledore had entered the Hogshead up until he returned the second time to check whether the Pub owner and the serving staff were truly unconscious under Dumbledore's _Stupefy_.

"Dumbledore's _Stupefy_ had no effect on us as we had taken precautions." Dracula's expression turned somber as he asked for Voldemort's forgiveness, "Great Master, Trelawney truly seemed like a seer of some ability, unfortunately Dumbledore took her with him, please forgive my incompetence in this matter, I didn't dare interfere in their leaving in fear of getting in the way of Master's important plans."

"You did well," Voldemort complimented, "You and your companions would not have been able to stand against Dumbledore's might. The prophecy takes precedence, I am very happy that you were able to bring me the complete version. Dracula, you will be rewarded." He lifted his wand and pale, blood colored spell hit Dracula, at which the vampire was filled with elation.

"Thank you, thank you, my Master!" As the spell hit him, two spells that he had never seen before that were only suitable for casting by vampires suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Take some time to savor them." Voldemort said in dismissal.

Dracula obediently stood and retreated out of the hall.

After a moment of silence, Voldemort finally clenched his fists at the overwhelming joy and excitement that filled him. The prophecy Dracula brought him was not the same as the one Harry told him, that alone confirmed that what he was currently doing was not just an illusion, as long as he was careful, he will not need to wait 20 years to grasp the fruits of victory, he could achieve all his goals in one fell swoop!

But, there is still the issue of that child. He slowly unclenched his fists.

The only couples who had thrice defied him and escaped, whose wives were also pregnant with the baby due at the end of July, were as Harry had said, Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom. If he had to mark one of them, it was true that he would have chosen the future Harry Potter- the babe, like him was a halfblood, that alone would have been enough.

Harry's words made him unwilling to go and mark that child, because even if he marked him and the child became a Parselmouth, even if the child could communicate with him through dreams and visions, he would still not be Harry. But this new prophecy rouse a sliver of interest in him over the child, "_ They are enemies but they can also be lovers… the one who raises the child shall be the key… one shall die by the other's hand… or the two shall join hands and plunge the world into darkness…_"

How very interesting.

Was it the case that if he, Voldemort, were to raise the child, he would grow up and become a second Harry? This speculation was dismissed by Voldemort almost as soon as it appeared. That possibility did not exist, a Harry Potter without the experience of being the Savior would definitely not be the Harry Potter that he loved, but could instead become a satisfactory heir.

Perhaps this is a better idea, he would get his hands on the child and then he and Harry could raise him together, making the child both his heir and Harry's...

This, of course, would only occur if Harry lived to see the child come to them.

**202.**

Late that evening, Voldemort returned to their Manor, bathed and returned to their bedchamber. The lowered bed curtains told him that Harry was already asleep. A healthy Harry would never be abed so early but right now, Harry desperately needed sleep to alleviate the rapid loss of his life force. Voldemort undressed and got into bed, taking his lover's thin body into his arms.

Lily Potter was almost five months pregnant and at James Potter's urging, had taken temporary leave from work to return to Potter Manor to rest, the instigator of all of this was enjoying life while his poor Harry was paying a high price due to the growth and development of another him inside their mother's body! Harry continued to lose weight and his condition continued to worsen, if it weren't for his and Snape's spells and potions halting the deterioration somewhat, Harry would not even have the strength to get out of bed.

Lightly caressing Harry's pale face with and carefully feeling Harry's as yet steady breathing, Voldemort's heart and soul was under unprecedented torment.

He had thought that he and Harry would be able to spend eternity together, they had even made plans for where they would travel to for vacations after the war was done with, they had planned to tour the world, both magical and muggle. As he, like Harry, was powerful enough not to fear the passage of time, he had been sure that they would be able to realize their plans. But Harry's tear-stricken confessions that winter's night had dashed all his wonderful dreams, although various mysteries surrounding Harry were finally revealed, such as why Harry didn't seem to exist before age eleven, why Harry was so powerful at such a young age, why Harry knew so much advanced magic and potions... but if it was possible, if he could have a do-over, he would have chosen to live with these mysteries, forever speculating as to the answers, if that would mean that Harry was healthy and strong, instead of how he was right now, like a fragile porcelain doll, whose life might end at any moment.

He had scoured all his books but was unable to find a way to solve the deadlock with Harry and his other self, all the magic and potions he had found were only able to provide Harry with a means to barely continue his existence in this world. Every day he watched as Harry wasted away but was unable to do anything! It seems that his promise to always protect Harry from any harm was destined to be empty words, as it was during the Quidditch World Cup and during the Triwizard Tournament, as it is now. Would he forever be limited to passively enjoying the happiness that Harry gave him without ever being able to do anything for Harry in return? No matter what he did, it only ever seemed to be insignificant, whenever it was something truly vital to Harry's life and safety, he always seemed to be one step behind. Right now he couldn't even put aside all his other tasks and fulfill their dreams of traveling the world together, as despite his weakness, Harry was still dragging his weakening body to St Mungos everyday to balance the various factions and instruct Nicholas, all to pave the way for Voldemort, how could he do anything to jeopardize Harry's efforts?

Luckily he was not alone, he had countless wizards under his command and some of these wizards belonged to some of the oldest families in the wizarding world, believers in power and the purity of blood. Over hundreds and even more than a thousand years, they have accumulated numerous books, far outstripping what he has been able to amass in the last decades, these books had darker, more eerie, but also more effective spells and potions that are just what he needs right now. If it can save Harry, if it can allow Harry to continue living a healthy life, he was willing to pay any price.

Harry's eyes opened a sliver and gazed blurrily at Voldemort, his hands slid automatically around the man's sturdy waist and he smiled vaguely, "Voldy, you're back. I missed you."

" I missed you too Harry." Voldemort pressed a light kiss to Harry's forehead, for this smile, he was willing to give everything.

**203.**

The next day, when Harry returned home from work, Voldemort, who had hurried through all his duties so that he could return home to wait for Harry, softly relayed to Harry the prophecy that Trelawney had given. Voldemort didn't mention what he intended to do with the yet-to-be-born "Harry" as he wished to hear Harry's thoughts on this changed prophecy and on the child.

Sitting on the sofa which was covered with thick woolen blankets, Harry was leaning close to the fire in the fireplace, as he listened to Voldemort relating the series of events to him, he completely forgot that his hands were getting too close to the fire, giving Voldemort a fright when he almost burnt his hands. The shock was too great, it was completely beyond his expectations, but Harry was also somewhat relieved, wasn't everything that he had done since coming to this world done purely to change this tumultuous history that still seemed to be progressing to the same end! "So, what would you like to do Voldy? Especially in relation to the yet-to-be-born "me"."

Voldemort shrugged, "Dearest Harry, first I want to ask your opinion. After all... this child is of some importance to you."

Harry gave a resigned smile, "Voldy, that is me, please don't keep seeing him as someone you hate. If not for him, there would be no me."

Conceding under Harry's admonishing glare, Voldemort lifted his hands in surrender, this was the second time he had conceded on the matter of that little brat. "Alright, alright, I will try." He will simply have to endure while in Harry's presence.

Harry sighed soundlessly. After a brief moment, he rallied and made his position clear to Voldemort, "Voldy, I believe that you are not intending to Kill James and Lily Potter, correct?"

Voldemort nodded solemnly and replied, "Correct." He had no reason to kill Harry's parents, even though the whole situation seemed so laughable- he would have to ensure his enemies' safety.

Harry was overjoyed, he had finally solved the problem of his parents' possible death. "In the prophecy, it said that _the one who raises the child shall be the key_... you are not going to kill James and Lily, but if they are the ones to raise the future "me", then when "I" grow up, you will be seen as "my" greatest enemy." As he had in the past. "So, it would be best to bring the child to your side so that you could raise him, and when he grows up, I believe he will be another "me" and he will become your lover."

Voldemort's face darkened, as his said chillingly, "Is that what you think?"

Harry coughed, then forced himself to swallow the sickly sweet liquid that welled up, that babe growing peacefully far away in Potter Manor was causing untold damage to his body. "Yes, that is what I think. Is that not so for you?"

"Of course not!" Voldemort's brows drew together in a furious frown, "Do you truly believe that I could love any other wizard but you? Can you really just assign another to become my lover just like that?" He paced angrily around the room, his feet pounding vengefully into the plush carpet all over the room, they were in pain but didn't dare make a sound.

Somewhat frightened by Voldemort's towering rage, Harry hesitantly replied, "Voldy, that is me..."

"That is not you!" Voldemort stomped over to stand in front of Harry, leaning down to stare right into his face with his hands on the arms of the sofa, securely bracketing Harry and keeping him right where he was, his voice was more determined and solemn that Harry had ever heard before as he continued, "This is the last time I will say it Harry, that is not you. Even though the two of you have the same parents, aunt and uncle, the same godfather, even though you both were or will be born in a time of war- he will not lose his parents, his friends and family, he will not have a godfather crushed under the stigma of betraying his friends, nor will he have grown up under the abuse of his aunt and uncle, such a person, even if he were to go to war with me for fifteen years as you did, would not be YOU, because he will never understand what it is to be alone, nor will he know true despair." He sighed, "Harry, history will not repeat itself, and I will not grow over confident in the victory that is at hand as I did before, this me will triumph in the end but that child will never become you. Put that idea out of you mind."

**204.**

The man's steely tone destroyed Harry's final illusion of hope and his eyes filled with tears. "Voldy, I just don't want for you to be alone after I die..." In this world, the only thing that he was still worried about was Voldemort. He could understand the despair and rage that would come if one had and then lost the warmth of love, when he had seen his godfather, he only remaining family, fall into the veil so many years ago, the chilling pain caused hope to drain from his whole world.

"Harry, Harry..." He beloved's tears and words were like fiery knives cutting into the heart of the Dark Lord, resignedly he took his only warmth into his arms as sorrow filled his heart. "No, you won't die, I WILL find a way to save you, you will not die, I will not permit it..." He murmured repeatedly, it was hard to tell whether he was reassuring Harry or himself.

Finally, the two of them were unable to reach consensus over what to do with the child. Voldemort could not accept Harry's conclusion and Harry could not condone Voldemort's proposed action. In the end, Harry still wished that Voldemort would treat the child as him- even though he realized that he and the child would be different, but he still hoped that Voldemort would feel better with someone at his side who was physically the same as Harry. However, they both agreed that the child should be brought to Voldemort Manor as soon as he was born, along with James and Lily Potter. If possible, Harry wanted to bring Sirius Black and Remus Lupin as well.

As the flowers bloomed that Spring, Harry and Voldemort attended the wedding of Richard and Rose with Voldemort officiating. It would have been Harry, but his condition necessitated as little strain as possible and so Voldemort took his place with little fanfare.

During the entire wedding ceremony, old Baron Colson's smile was somewhat forced and stiff, his wife and daughter however, were truly happy, they both got along very well with Rose. Looking at Baron Colson's stiff smile, Harry couldn't help but imagine his reaction when he learned that his daughter was deeply in love with an outstanding Bulgarian halfblood Death Eater, perhaps the shock might even be enough to kill him.

Nicholas was progressing well, by April he had already mastered all the theory that Harry knew, all that was lacking was sufficient practical experience. Unfortunately Harry's current condition did not allow for him to help Nicholas in this, all he could do was let Nicholas proceed carefully on his own. By now, Harry's fragile condition was readily apparent to anyone aware and observant enough, everyone knew that Harry would have to leave his position as St Mungo Deputy Director in the near future, and so various ploys to gain some insight disguised as inquiries over Harry's health played out, completely oblivious to the fact that their increasing visits would only cause Harry's condition to worsen. Luckily, none of these people were allowed access to Harry, instead they were all blocked by Nicholas. After realizing how weak Harry was becoming Nicholas understood the purpose of Harry's actions over the past few months and being a very smart wizard, he was very aware of his own position and the role that he would have to play. In a very short time, he had solidified his position within St Mungos: as Harry's hand taught student, the leader of the Slytherin faction and someone considered to be a well liked and important nephew to Head Healer Allan. When Harry's condition forces him to leave St Mungos, he must and will take over all of Harry's burdens and become the center of the resistance against the Order of the Phoenix.

"What! They still haven't been found!" Voldemort glared at his shuddering servants, his handsome features twisted in to a gruesome rictus. "It has been two months and you can't even find two people and one of them is a pregnant woman! Your incompetence infuriates me!" At that, he raised his wand and his servants rolled around under the agony of the cruciatus, not daring to make a sound.

Standing beside them, the vampire Dracula didn't bother to ask for clemency on his colleagues' behalf, it was better to allow the increasingly volatile Dark Lord to release some of his rage before Dracula would be able to provide any counsel that the Dark Lord would be able to take in, otherwise it was likely that Dracula himself would become one of the unfortunates rolling around in agony. When he sensed that the timing was right, he bowed before speaking, "Great Master, I am ashamed over their incompetence and while they do deserve punishment, " here he paused, "Great Master, I am sure with your intelligence and cunning, you have seen through the issue and already know that Dumbledore is aware that you know about the prophecy, he must have done something to hide the Potters and the unborn child, preventing our people from locating them."

"Oh?" Voldemort's gaze turned to Dracula and indicated that he continue.

"I believe that the Potters are not just hiding in a place that we can't find- even if they were hiding in the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, we would be able to get some information, therefore, I believe that Dumbledore must have hidden them using some kind of spell."

Could it be the _Fidelius_?

**205.**

So, Dumbledore had finally used this strategy, Voldemort's eyes narrowed as he scoffed internally. The secret holder has to be Sirius Black, there could be no other candidate. That mutt is James Potter's best friend and would be willing to undergo any pain and torture to protect his friend's secret. It is a shame that Harry had already killed Peter Pettigrew, otherwise that cowardly wizard who was obsessed with power would definitely have betrayed his friends and given Voldemort the secret, just like Harry had said. Deep inside those watery, beady eyes, lived untold desires and hatred. Perhaps it was precisely this reason that had caused Harry to kill Pettigrew with no hesitation, to prevent his foreseen betrayal and despicable behavior.

Without Pettigrew, if Sirius Black still wanted to plan a decoy, there would only be one candidate. Voldemort's smile grew increasingly chilly, let us hope that Sirius Black isn't so stupid as to switch secret keepers to that person, otherwise it would suck all the challenge from the matter. However, who else could Sirius Black trust other than that person. As wily as he is, Dumbledore would never take on such a risky task, that man was more slippery than an eel!

He waved his hand, his robe sleeve sweeping elegantly, "Relay my command, all efforts are to be made to apprehend Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Oh, try not to hurt them. Lupin is to be apprehended discreetly, as for Sirius Black..." His lips curved even more in an eerie grin, "Be as blatant as possible in his apprehension."

Those gathered below the throne were overjoyed. They had thought that they would have to endure a towering rage, instead they were only subjected to one round of _Crucio_ then forgiven, thankful gazes turned towards Dracula.

Thinking back, Voldemort realized that Dracula had not taken part in any large scale operations lately, not wanting the newly taught spells to go to waste, he called him over and instructed, "Dracula, you will lead this mission to capture the werewolf Remus Lupin, get it done quietly, don't let any information leak out. I am aware that you have always been discreet. Once this is done, I will not forget the efforts of the Dracula Clan."

Having been rather bored these two months with several easy missions and feeling somewhat dissatisfied that he had not had the opportunity to use the spells that his master had taught him, Dracula was overjoyed at Voldemort's words. Kneeling quickly, he replied in a loud, clear voice, "Rest assured Master, I, Count Dracula, swear on my life that I will not disappoint my Master, the werewolf Remus Lupin will be brought secretly to your feet."

"Hm." Voldemort nodded in satisfaction, still he called Dracula over and whispered some quiet instructions, after which Dracula moved silently to the side.

Voldemort then instructed the other wizards, "I will not chastise you for your previous failures. As long as you capture Sirius Black, you will have achieved a major victory for me. If you fail in this..." He did not elaborate but his chilling, bloodthirsty tone make it clear to his terrified Death Eaters what horrifying fate they would suffer if they failed in this mission.

"Honored Master, please be assured that no matter what, we will not fail in this, we will bring you Sirius Black."

After his servants closed the doors softly after them, the hall was again plunged into silence, but the quiet did not soothe Voldemort's raging emotions. Harry was getting worse and he still had not found an adequate solution, no matter how many books he read, the results disappointed him. Was there truly nothing to be done?

The servants outside the doors quietly asked, "Master, Lucius Malfoy and Jim Green wish to see you."

"Have them come in." Voldemort lowered the hands that had been covering his face, smoothing his features back into nonchalance.

Even though the war had lowered the living standards of the nobles by a significant amount, these two young nobles, with their strong abilities on the battlefield, still appeared quite relaxed and happy. "Great Master, we have something important to report."

**206.**

"What is is?" Voldemort asked.

Lucius and Jim exchanged a glance, Jim lowered his head as Lucius began, "Master, you have been trying to find a way to restore Master Harry's life force?"

As Lucius' words, Voldemort's reaction was extreme, his fingers almost jerked for several seconds, not to say the sudden skip of his heart. Harry's weakened body was not secret and many wizards have been wondering how much longer Harry would be able to continue working at St Mungos before retiring to rest at Voldemort Manor. Lucius and Jim, as some of his closest followers, were of course aware of how serious Harry's condition was, their sudden queries would of course not be for the sole purpose of piling on more worries in his already volatile mood, they must have found something that might help.

Voldemort quickly became aware that his composure had deteriorated somewhat and he coughed lightly to disguise any inappropriate expressions. "Yes, I have been searching for ways to restore Harry's life force and energy." His gaze swept over the two, "After all this, the two you are of course aware that I am not searching for any ordinary way of restoring energy."

Lucius and Jim shared another glance, Lucius nodded at Jim then bowed, "Master, even though such spells are rare, they do exist, as we see it, Master's most pressing concern is that we have yet to find a way to extend Master Harry's life without harming another."

Voldemort folded his hands under his chin so that his tumultuous emotions would not be betrayed by his trembling fingers. To keep his voice steady, he had to speak as few words as possible, "Tell me." Just those two words, but his could still feel the overwhelming impatience in his tone.

"The Philosopher's Stone, Great Master." The two said simultaneously, "A Philosopher's stone would be able to solve the issues Master Harry is facing."

The Philosopher's Stone? Voldemort froze for a moment. This was a very ancient method, it not for Lucius and Jim, Voldemort would not have thought of this wonderful artifact for longevity. But, like the other methods, this had a fatal flaw, would Harry's extended life cause irrevocable damage to that unborn child? His hope froze, this would not work.

Voldemort's wordless reaction told the two below the dais that he had misunderstood their meaning. Jim continued, "Master, the stone is not for Master Harry, it is for you."

For him? Voldemort froze again at Jim's words, but this time he understood what Lucius and Jim meant, that was their proposal, after turning things around a bit, everything became clear. There was no further need to hid his emotions, laughter rang throughout the hall. "Very good, wonderful, your suggestion pleases me greatly. Now, what would you like? I will grant you anything." Although he is very strict with those of his followers who fail, he never hesitates to rewards those who are competent and have served him well.

Lucius wished for more power and a higher position which Voldemort granted, as well as giving a great gift to the soon to be born heir to the Malfoy family, at the same time naming this boy, who had continually been at odds with Harry because of Harry spurning his hand in friendship on the Hogwarts Express, Draco.

Jim wished for Voldemort to pardon his sister Kate Green. In the past, Kate had urged Miranda to attack Harry and been found out by Voldemort, after this, she had been sent to Azkaban. To prevent her from been given the Dementor's Kiss, Jim had spent much of their family's money. After spending five years in Azkaban, Voldemort had sent her to the front lines after the war began, so that she walked in the presence of death every day. Luckily she had only received one injury to her leg. The time she spent recovering at St Mungos was the most peaceful period in her life. Although Jim felt that Kate deserved what she got, still they were blood and he wanted her to be free from such danger. Also his sister had finally seen the light after witnessing the devotion and love Voldemort had for Harry as well as Harry's immense power.

Voldemort hesitated over this request but finally relented. "She is your responsibility Jim, don't disappoint me."

**207.**

Nicholas Flamel, famous alchemist and Opera lover, his life's greatest achievement was making a Philosopher's Stone. This artifact which existed almost solely in legend can turn base metals into gold and create the Elixir of life, allowing the drinker to live forever. So Nicholas Flamel became a freak of nature that has lived for more than six hundred years, his wife had also become a long lived witch due to the stone. They have lived for a long time in Devonshire. This information was given to Voldemort by Harry, in this complete baring of history, he had also revealed his struggle with then enemy Voldemort over the stone. But Voldemort had almost completely disregarded this information about the so called drug of immortality at the time due to his worry over Harry's condition.

The information now became very useful, the only uncertainty was the exact location and current whereabouts of the Flamels. In these times of war, locating a single wizarding couple is not easy, especially given that this couple might be actively participating in the war. They would be unlikely to leave the stone at their home, rather they probably had the stone on them, of course, if their home was heavily warded then the stone might be there. Regardless, such a delicate matter required a reliable person to handle, to refrain from alerting the quarry and also to be powerful enough to command a large number of others in the search.

Coming to a decision, Voldemort went to Baron Colson's Manor in Bulgaria to talk to young Lord Colson in privacy for around ten minutes. This short but distant trip lightened Voldemort's mood immensely.

Richard Colson was a hidden piece that he had prepared for Harry, from the time Harry had begun to accept Richard he had carved out a place for this overly rebellious young man, he and he wife, as well as all their underlings belonged directly to Harry and were responsible for Harry's safety. Richard himself understood his situation, he might disregard his own safety but he cannot ignore his wife's wellbeing. And so Rose Cox was able to become first Richard's fiancé and then the Lady and future Countess of the prominent Colson family, all because of Harry's mediation and efforts. If anything were to happen to Harry, should Voldemort stand aside and do nothing, Rose would likely disappear from the face of the earth and Richard would be forced to marry some pureblood lady instead and become the perfect little heir. Unlike the Black family with their two sons so that there was another worthy successor even though one son had betrayed his own ancestors, Baron Colson only had the one son. To ensure that his assets are not taken by any ancillary bloodlines, Richard must keep the place of heir, Baron Colson's previous threats of disownment were simply empty threats made in an attempt at forcing his son's compliance. At present, Richard had in a sense embarked on a path of no return, his only hope and indeed the only thing he could rely on was Harry's support, thus it is most fitting to assign this task to him. Being a very reliable and practical wizard, his underlings tended to favor him, making Voldemort somewhat confident in his ability to complete the assigned tasks and missions, also various unique artifacts available to such an old wizarding family would help to ensure the security and success of any transmission of information. As well, Voldemort did not have many other followers available to handle such a task as most of them were already locked in conflict with the Dumbledore led Order of the Phoenix, he was only able to send a portion of his followers to capture Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, but this mission had just as much importance in Harry's safety and survival and thus he placed equal importance on it. He did not expect Richard to bring him the Philosopher's Stone, in truth Richard did not possess that level of ability, after all a six hundred year old wizard's knowledge of magical theory and practical spell casting was not something a young wizard in their twenties could stand against, even the wards and protections around the Flamel home might be enough to stump the lad, no, all he needed was information, Nicholas Flamel's address and his current whereabouts, he would take care of the rest himself.

**208.**

After more than forty days of effort, Dracula returned to Voldemort triumphant, "Honored Master, one of your most reliable servants, I, Count Dracula, have completed my assigned mission and captured the werewolf Remus Lupin." At a brisk wave of his hand, six Death Eaters dragged Remus Lupin in front of Voldemort.

Voldemort gazed at the six lower ranking Death Eaters who all looked the worse for wear, each with rumpled, dirty and sweat-soaked robes and covered in wounds minor and major. Remus' somewhat faded and threadbare robes were slashed open at the waist in a foot long gap, his hands were blood-soaked and bruises littered his face. Of the eight wizards present, only Dracula was immaculate, robes pristine and blue eyes glittering with elation, excitement and satisfaction, it was obvious that in this chase, Dracula had won an overwhelming victory. It seems that Dracula was so eager to claim his reward for the successful capture of Lupin that he didn't even give his underlings time to change out of their ruined robes. At least the pitiful state of his six followers gave him some satisfaction as to their loyalty.

He raised a single brow, "Dracula, your underlings were not too rough on the werewolf?" He believed that Dracula would not go against his orders but he was concerned that Lupin's response might have been overly fierce, forcing Dracula to be more heavy handed, he didn't want Lupin to sustain any LASTING damage or Harry might take issue with him.

Dracula's smile was slightly smug as he replied, "I would not be so idiotic my lord. Although Remus Lupin looks to be in a pitiful state, all he suffered were surface wounds, easily and quickly treatable. These six incompetents and the couple dozen others like him are all in a worse condition than him." He said, pointing to the six Death Eaters manhandling Lupin. "I was well aware of what was appropriate." Even though he had taken care not to make the attempt around the period prior to or following the full moon given that Voldemort had informed him of Remus Lupin's werewolf status, they had still sustained a significant amount of damage as they could not hurt Lupin too severely.

Voldemort gave a satisfied smile. Gazing at Lupin, who was looking back at him without any obvious sign fear nor even too much rage, he waved his hand in dismissal, Dracula and his underlings immediately vacated the Hall. Their Master wanted to perform the initial interrogation and they were better off outside guarding the doors.

When he discovered that he was being hunted by Death Eaters, Remus accepted the possibility that he might not make it, as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, sooner or later he would have faced this situation. Surprisingly the vampire in charge of the mission was given orders to not damage him too severely, instead, he instructed his underlings solemnly to capture him alive, even at the cost of their own lives. He noted that the Death Eaters seemed to disappear before and after the full moon, allowing him to endure his transformation peacefully, then they would launch another round of attacks.

He never wanted to imagine this scenario but the reality of the situation gave him no choice, the halfblood prince, he must have been a part of this manhunt launched against him, he didn't know how he was supposed to face these possibilities or perhaps they were facts, Voldemort knew that he had access to the Wolfsbane Potion, it was quite possible that the halfblood prince had told him. He couldn't be angry at the halfblood prince for what he had done, after all, an eternally insurmountable barrier loamed between them, reason and circumstances can easily destroy the existence of emotions. If their situations were reversed, if Dumbledore were to had need to get his hands on the halfblood prince, Remus would have told him any information that he might possess- it was their responsibility and it was in line with their own principles. Still, his heart stung a little and his eyes threatened to fill with tears.

"Mr. Lupin, Harry has missed you and will be glad to see you again." Voldemort's lips curved with mirth over what he had seen in Lupin's thought, it seems that Severus, the halfblood prince who had always thought his love to be one-sided, was not, in fact, alone in his feelings.

Harry, Harry Potter. Even though they were on opposite sides, Remus could not deny that Harry Potter was the most likeable Death Eater he had ever met. If Harry Potter had been sorted into Gryffindor back then, they would have gotten along wonderfully, that man was not a Slytherin in the traditional sense. However, Voldemort didn't really mention Harry Potter at this moment to express how much the man missed him. "I would also be happy to see Mr. Potter again."

Why did Voldemort want to capture him alive?

**209.**

Through legillimency, Voldemort found no evidence that Remus Lupin was harboring any secrets and his other thoughts did not contain anything that roused Voldemort's interest. This did not cause him to despair, instead it made him suspect Remus Lupin even more. The reason that the _Fidelius_ can only be revealed by the secret keeper himself is because no one else could detect the existence of the secret in that person's mind using legillimency or any other mind magics. Very interesting, it seems that the stupid mutt was again playing tricks that he was not good at. "Take him to the dungeons." He instructed the Death Eaters waiting outside the doors. Remus Lupin will just have to stay in the dungeons until Sirius Black was captured.

Harry quickly learned the news, when Voldemort returned to the Manor Harry was waiting for him in the study. "You captured Remus?" Harry asked, shocked. He had received reports that Voldemort was concentrating all efforts on catching Sirius but he had not heard that Voldemort had issued instructions to capture Remus. What mystified him was that he had thought Voldemort would place the highest priority on capturing James and Lily, it seems that he was mistaken, but in a way that was better, even though he had originally hoped to keep Sirius and Remus, who had always loved and cared for Harry, alive and free, mixing up the order of their incarceration was not necessarily bad.

"Yes." Voldemort handed Harry a silver bottle of potion, this was a new potion he and Snape had created to help restore life force, it was adequate at improving Harry's almost shutdown body. "Take a guess why I had him caught." He lightheartedly attempted to engage Harry with a puzzle.

Harry blinked and tilted his head, then he shrugged, "Alright, I'll admit that I do not know. I had thought that you turned to catching Remus and Sirius because catching James and Lily became too difficult, obviously I was wrong."

Harry's words made Voldemort smile as he moved to embrace him. Harry's body was growing ever thinner and the woolen robe almost seemed to be too heavy for his emaciated shoulders. Different from the recent past, embracing Harry did not bring any sorrow, today's news was too wonderful and full of hope for that, he had now gained endless confidence in Harry's future recovery. "Dear Harry, you were indeed wrong, I did not capture Lupin because it was "easier". I suspect that Remus Lupin is James and Lily Potter's secret keeper."

"Secret Keeper?" Harry exclaimed as he immediately grabbed hold of Voldemort's arms, fingers white with strain. "Did you say secret keeper?"

"Yes, I did." Voldemort's smile faded away as his expression turned somber.

"The _Fidelius_?" Harry asked hurriedly as his breathing grew short.

"Yes." Voldermort was beginning to get a bad feeling about this. "Harry, calm down, you are too weak, you can't get too excited." Taking a potion out of his pocket with the fluidity of practice, he carefully fed half the vial to Harry. It was fortunate that he was used to carrying calming and nutrient potions on hand due to Harry's weakened condition.

Even after consuming the potion, Harry's face was almost grey and his lips almost blue, his eyes almost seemed to dull. After being carried over to the sofa by Voldemort, he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. After a while, he clenched his fists and turned to Voldemort, "Voldy, you said that history will not repeat itself, right?"

Voldemort nodded solemnly, his voice full of conviction as he replied, "Definitely not!" He will not murder Harry's parents, not will he attempt to kill Harry, he will not be defeated by a baby and be made to drift around a dark forest in desolation and despair for eleven years, he will not allow Dumbledore to die so easily... no, history will not repeat itself, he will not allow it!

Releasing his tightly clenched fists, some color finally returned to Harry's face, his body falling into Voldemort's arms after the tension holding him rigid dissipated. Too much concern caused him to lose his perspective, what was he worried about? Disregarding the fact that James and Lily were his parents, he had already told Voldemort about what he had been through, with his towering intellect, how could his lover possibly choose to make the same mistakes? And even if Voldemort still repeated his foolishness, wasn't Harry still around to help remedy any issues? Even though Harry was about to die, he would not allow Voldemort to move towards destruction. Although it could not be said that everything was under control, at least Voldemort would not court destruction, that was enough. Harry was certain that with Voldemort's cunning, the situation will turn out to be better instead of the worst happening. Taking a deep breath Harry turned to Voldemort with a forced smile, "I'm sorry ,Voldy..."

Voldemort put his arms firmly around Harry's shoulders and shook his head wordlessly.

"To think, even after I killed Peter Pettigrew, there is still Sirius... or perhaps Remus..." Harry murmured. He couldn't hope that Sirius or Remus would be able to keep anything secret, with the improving relations with the muggles, Voldemort seemed to have experimented with many spells that were the result of mixing magical and muggle methods and theories.

**210.**

After dinner, Voldemort left the Manor to return to his headquarters to take care of some business, Harry stayed in the study to read by the fireplace, this is now his only leisure activity, other activities such as practicing magic or studying potions had all been vetoed by Voldemort. Ten pm was his bedtime as designated by Voldemort and so at that time he put his book back on the bookshelf, gathered his thick cloak around him and slowly made his way to the bedroom. He had intended to go directly to sleep after getting into bed but something else suddenly occurred to him. "_Accio_ two way mirror." He incanted with a wave of his wand.

"Sev, you aren't in bed yet are you?" He said into the mirror.

Snape's face appear in the mirror, having classes and almost forgetting to eat and sleep as he researched potions for Harry, he had lost quite a bit of weight. Piercing eyes looked up and down quickly to ascertain Harry's condition as his mood visibly darkened with despair. "Harry, you are getting worse." He stated with resignation.

At this, Harry's lips quirked into a brilliant smile as he consoled his friend, "Sev, I am thinner, but I am feeling better. Thank you for your potions."

Snape shook his head as his gaze again swept over Harry's body, after another shake of his head, deep eyes filled with sorrow that could not be hidden. Just several days ago, he and Voldemort had met to diagnose Harry, at that time Harry had looked much better than he did now, right now Harry didn't look much better than a corpse and he did not doubt that in two or three months Harry will fall into the arms of death. The terrifying thing was that he still did not know what horrible illness had caused Harry's life force to fade so quickly, according to the diagnosis Harry's body was healthy and without illness, but it was certain that his life force was draining away naturally, like an old man awaiting the call of death- but Harry was only twenty-one! Under these circumstances, Severus had long given up hope of being able to cure Harry, magical healing at its present level is incapable of saving Harry's life, all he could do was his best. But each time he saw Harry's increasingly haggard appearance was a heavy blow to his heart, perhaps it was because of Harry's brilliance, he was so brilliant that even Merlin was jealous and had to take his life. Severus could only watch and endure the torment and pain of not being able to do anything as his friend moved ever closer to death. "Don't try to comfort me Harry. The more you try the more incompetent I feel."

For a moment the two were plunged into silence.

After several seconds, Harry was the first to break free of the atmosphere of sorrow, he had done his best to make arrangements for anything that concerned him and he was beginning to get used to the threat of death, however, even he could have moments of confusion, even he had things that he could not bear to lose, he struggled and hung on to those things but still he made preparations to meet death. He did not want to leave this world with any regrets, similarly, he did not want those around him, people that he cared about and who cared about him, to have any regrets or sorrow. It was just as well that the topic he was preparing to discuss with Snape would bring them out of this heavy atmosphere, news of that one should be sufficient to drag Snape out of his self-recrimination. "Sev, there is something important that I must tell you, Voldy has captured Remus Lupin."

"What?!" Snape's usually cold and emotionless facade cracked spectacularly, he eyes widened so far that they were in danger of falling out of their sockets, the pitch of his exclamation was almost beyond what Harry could endure, "What did you day?! Master has captured Re... Lupin? Did I hear you correctly?"

Harry rubbed his ears in commiseration over their recent torment. It worked better than he had hoped, his friend's spirits had lifted, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that they had been elevated to an unbearable level. Shaking his head, he replied, "You did not hear incorrectly Sev, Voldy had indeed capture Remus, Voldy told me so himself."

Snape took a long moment to digest this shocking piece of news, then his worriedly questioned Harry, "He... he won't die will he?"

"Of course not."

"He is badly wounded?"

Harry shook his head, "No, his wounds are not severe. Voldy told me that they are all flesh wounds and will heal completely."

Snape was very relieved that Remus had not sustained any heavy or debilitating injuries. After the release of the initial tension one question sprang to mind, according to the reports of the Death Eaters who had infiltrated the Order of the Phoenix, Remus was an outer circle member of the Order, usually given unimportant tasks, he was also not privy to much information, thus he is not an Order member that should be of much use to Voldemort, such a member should have no importance and would likely to eliminated rather than captured. But according to Harry's statement, Remus had been captured relatively unscathed, those responsible for taking him in had likely sustained heavier injuries than he. This was obviously due to prior instructions by Voldemort, but why would this be?

**211.**

"Thank you, Harry." 

Snape's sudden thanks confused Harry, "You're... thanking me?"

"Yes, thank you. You must have made a plea to Master on Lupin's behalf, otherwise he would not have been caught with so little damage." The only reason Snape could come up with for this was that Harry had ensured Remus' safety with Voldemort. "Thank you for everything that you have done for me." He would remember this forever.

"Um... you're welcome, after all we're good friends." Harry chuckled dryly, not daring to deny Snape's supposition, although Voldemort had spared Remus because of Harry, it had nothing to do with Snape, but right now, all he could do was buck up and accept Snape's gratitude for his kindness and friendship.

"So, do you know why Master had Lupin captured?" Snape was certain that it was not because of the halfblood prince.

Harry then explained Trelawney's prophecy and Voldemort's speculations thereof, Snape immediately frowned in concern.

"Master believes Remus to be the secret keeper? Is that... possible? That idiotic best friend of James Potter's, shouldn't such a great secret have been entrusted to Sirius Black? How... how could Remus be dragged into this?" In the end, Snape's concern was so great that he had forgotten to prevent the "Remus" from slipping out to replace his customary address of "Lupin", but he had no attention to spare on a little matter like that. If Voldemort's supposition was correct, then Snape was well aware of what Remus will be put through at Voldemort's hands. The best way to question a prisoner was with torture, the more severe the better, he himself had been in charge of several interrogations and was well aware of the effectiveness of Death Eater torture methods, they could definitely make any wizard wish for death, while various spells and potions ensured that the prisoner would not be allowed the mercy and release of death before the relevant information was obtained.

"But Black's idea is not completely stupid, if that was truly what he did. As everyone is aware that he is James Potter's best friend, they would all believe him to be the secret keeper, that way no one would suspect someone else to be the secret keeper." Harry thought Sirius' idea to be a fairly good one and without Pettigrew, Sirius' choice of candidate was much better.

"Well, our Master's intellect is not to be underestimated... he is not just a smart wizard..." Snape's response was bitterly murmured. Even though in his eyes, Sirius Black was not some fool and could even be called somewhat intelligent, still Black had doomed Remus. He can already foresee what Remus will soon be going through, and the only thing that he may be able to do for him was to prepare healing potions such as skelegrow and blood replentishers, then drag Harry into making some plans with him, so that they could ensure that Remus recovered as soon as possible after each interrogation as well as making sure that he had some respite between sessions. He could only hope that the introverted Remus was not as stubborn as he thought and gave up the Potters' location soon under torture so that his suffering was minimized.

"You're right." Harry's joy was heartfelt on the topic of his beloved's towering intellect. He had of course noticed Snape's despondency and could guess at the reasons for it, but as long as he was around, Voldemort would not use torture on Remus, perhaps his other methods would be even more cruel but as least Remus' physical pain would be minimal. "So, I would like to ask, do you want to go see him?"

"See him?" Snape repeated Harry's words in confusion before reacting, "You are saying that we can go see him..."

Harry nodded. "It's been a while since you have seen each other correct? There have not even been many letters right? I know that there are reasons why you usually don't see him, but right now he is right there and if you don't go see him now, once Black is captured and Remus is confirmed to be the secret keeper, going to see him will put you in too awkward a position."

That was true, a meeting between Remus and Snape right now would be awkward but waiting to meet until after Remus had been tortured extensively by Voldemort would be infinitely worse. After coming to this conclusion, Snape was of course eager to go see Remus. "Harry, if you could help me make arrangements, please don't be too... precipitous."

Harry readily agreed.


	23. Chapters 212-220

AN: A little clarification of a mix up- I confirmed that the story was still on the original site mentioned in the first post of this story so anyone interested in reading the original Chinese version can still go to that website. The reason I couldn't load the site last time was just due to some issues with my internet and the story that was taken down was another fanfic by the same author.

To all you readers and reviewers out there, I hope you enjoy this story and thank you for all your encouragements. There are a total of 266 chapters and a couple of epilogues (three) so we should be finished soon.

HJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJPHJP

**212.**

Using the excuse of checking on the condition of the prisoner and delivering the Wolfsbane potion, Harry and Snape were taken to Remus' cell by the guards on duty and the two started with taking a peek through the small window on the cell door. With Harry's feelings in mind, Voldemort had arranged for a private, "luxury" cell for Remus which was almost 500 square feet in size, with a single bed, a desk and armchair, it even had its own bathroom, and he was provided with three square meals a day which while not exactly gourmet, were nothing to scoff at either, it was almost as though Remus was here for a retreat rather than because he is a prisoner. Seeing Remus sitting at the desk lost in his thoughts but healthy and well caused Snape to shoot a grateful look at Harry.

A familiar scent of herbs suddenly caught Remus' attention, it was faint but easily recognizable by his sensitive nose. He immediately roused from his thoughts and shot an inquiring look at the tiny window on the cell door as he wondered who was outside.

As for why this scent was familiar to him, he couldn't really say, all he knew was that deep inside his heart and mind, he knew this scent, a heavy sense of sorrow and melancholy began to spread through him, as though he had missed something important his whole life. He suspected that this had something to do with the halfblood prince as only wizards who brewed potions often or those who had regular contact with wizards like them would give off this scent of herbs, and the only wizard who could stir his emotions who also had regular contact with potions was the halfblood prince. So which wizards had he smelled this scent on, Harry Potter, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy... all Slytherins, the halfblood prince was also a Slytherin.

But he'd never been able to find out who the halfblood prince really was, it may have been any one of those he had detected the scent on, or it might have been none of them- most wizards didn't like to carry the scent of herbs on them, most would spell away the scent the moment they realized they were carrying it, maybe it was just his bad luck but he had never been able to catch a glimpse of the halfblood prince. At least those around the halfblood prince all seemed to be high ranking Death Eaters so he should at least be well.

Now, Remus had once again caught the scent, at Death Eater headquarters no less, even though he kept telling himself that he wouldn't know the halfblood prince even if he did see him, he was still filled with anticipation over who was at the door.

The cell door opened and in walked two people who were old "buddies" of his, Harry Potter and Severus Snape. Just as Sirius told him, Harry Potter was ill, very, very ill. Compared to how he looked at the last time they met during their graduation ceremony three years ago, Harry had become so thin that he was just skin and bones, his formerly rounded cheeks now completely sunken, a faint miasma of dullness also seemed to shroud eyes that used to be bright and lively, his skin was so pales as to be almost bloodless. Even though it was not cold in the dungeons given that it was May, Harry Potter was still wearing woolen robes covered under a thick cloak. He was still beautiful but that now beauty inspired a sense of sorrow and regret. Compared to Harry Potter, Severus Snape hasn't changed at all, to Remus it seemed that Snape was looking at him with even more contempt than before. The scent of herbs was coming from Snape, but Remus would not be so self-delusional as to believe that Snape was the halfblood prince.

"Lupin, you're looking well." Harry commented lightly. It was only after truly seeing Remus' condition with his own eyes that Harry could relax.

With Harry and Snape both standing, Remus stood as well, "Thank you for your concern Potter."

"I'm here to deliver your Wolfsbane Potion. Sev... Sev." Harry raised his voice slightly as he quirked his lips at Snape.

Snape was bought out of his stupor with Harry's call, after a deep glance at Remus, he opened his potions case and took out a vial containing one month's dose of the Wolfsbane Potion. "Don't waste it with your usual fumbling Lupin. This potion is very expensive, way beyond what you could afford."

"Sev!" Harry had to fight the urge to give Snape a swift kick to the backside, after finally being able to see the man he loved, this was the way he was acting?

At these words Remus paled then flushed, but recovered his equilibrium after several seconds, a hint of resentment entered his eyes as he looked at Snape. "Thank you for your reminder Mr. Snape. But rather than worry about the unlikely possibility of me fumbling something, why don't you use your time wisely by figuring out a way to make your big, ugly nose more appealing."

Before the two could come to blows, Harry stepped between them, "Sev, Lupin is without his wand, you are not going to fight with him are you? We should be leaving!" He glared at Snape.

They left the dungeons and returned to Snape's workroom in Death Eater Headquarters, after placing five or six locking spells on the door, he turned to yell at Snape, "What in Merlin's name were you thinking Snape? You were there specifically to see him, why were you trying make him angry?! I had intended to leave Remus in your hands as soon as this thing with the _Fidelius_ was over, now what am I going to do about his!"

"I can't leave him with a good impression of me before the war is over." Snape replied softly, "When I can't guarantee that I will live through the war."

**213.**

It was getting closer to July and Harry's body was on the verge of collapse. In the middle of May he had finally been able to resign from the post of Deputy and Acting Director of St Mungos, appointing Allan to the post of Director and Nicholas to the post of Chief Healer. Even though Nicholas' new appointment was bound to raise the ire of Order members and sympathizers at St Mungos, Harry was confident in Nicholas' intelligence and cunning, he had both the Gryffindor courage and the Slytherin ability to strategize. So now, he was free from any responsibility and could rest peacefully at Voldemort Manor, awaiting the embrace of death with equanimity. The only thing that still concerned him was Snape, that stubborn man who loved so deeply. At least Snape would no longer need to be alone after Voldemort's victory.

Under the bright and scorching July sun, Harry loves to sit in a rocking chair placed in a shady area of their garden, slowly letting the day while away until Voldemort returned home at dinner time. The two of them would eat together as they chatted about their day and after dinner, Harry would sit quietly at Voldemort's side as he took care of paperwork, most of the time Harry would go to bed first as his body demanded rest and the next morning, Voldemort would not leave until after Harry had awakened.

Carefully closing the covers of "Five Hundred Years of Magical History", the small, round side table moved itself a little bit closer so that Harry could easily reach the glass of pumpkin juice on top of it, the cool, sweet beverage helping to soothe Harry's currently anxious mood.

Last night, Voldemort had still not returned.

This would be the fifth consecutive night that Voldemort had been away. Everyone around him, from the wizards like Snape and Lucius, to the house elves, acted easy and relaxed, telling him unconcernedly that Voldemort was supervising a large and rather time-consuming operation in person and might be away for a while, and had asked Harry to rest at the Manor and not worry about nebulous concerns.

But was that really what was happening?

As death approached, Harry had slowly lost most of his magical power, many spells were troublesome to cast but he was still able to use legillimency, even though this would aggravate his condition. One of Voldemort's new and favored followers, a muggle, had come to Voldemort Manor to present himself to Harry for the first time and Harry had taken the opportunity to read his mind. Harry was able to vaguely confirm that all the Death Eaters, along with Voldemort Manor's house elves, were lying to him.

Voldemort was not away on some important, time-consuming mission, no, he was wounded, quite severely and right now was unconscious at some Death Eater base. He didn't want Harry to worry and had managed to order Lucius to keep all of this hidden from Harry just before he lost consciousness, Richard and Rose had been brought especially from Bulgaria to keep Harry occupied for a few days. None of them had thought that Harry would risk exacerbating his condition by using such high level magic, Voldemort might have realized but he had barely had time to order Lucius to hide his condition.

In the three days since learning this news, Harry had not been able to sleep a wink, instead spending his sleepless nights worrying about Voldemort's condition. Wondering what injuries he had suffered, to what extent, whether he had woken up yet, or- perhaps if he was even still alive. More than once he had wondered how Voldemort had been injured, who had he been fighting against? Was it Dumbledore? This jumble of questions and speculations filled his head and he had no further energy to devote to anything else, even sleep.

While in the presence of others he pretended ignorance, he couldn't bear to spoil what Voldemort had tried to do for him so before Voldemort appeared in front of him he could only pretend to believe that his lover was really off somewhere supervising an important mission. Pepper up potions and glamours helped him to appear as normal in front of others, sitting in the sun as usual, playing wizards chess with Snape as usual, watching muggle tv shows with Nagini as usual... fooling everyone around him into thinking that he believed their badly constructed lies, then discarding these masks to reveal sunken and red eyes that fully showed his sleeplessness.

Perhaps in the eyes of Lucius, Snape and the other wizards, the lie was convincing but Harry knew that if Voldemort truly needed to go away for some important mission and be parted from him for a long time, his lover would have told him no matter what instead of just slipping away quietly like this.

**214.**

Taking the potion from Snape, Voldemort drank the whole thing in one gulp, some colour returning to his pallid cheeks. Looking at his own reflection in the golden mirror Lucius was holding, Voldemort sighed. Barely acceptable, he thought. Refusing the help of Lucius and the maids, he struggled out of the bed. The maids gathered around him to straighten his robes and style his hair, soon, his reflection again became the handsome, dashing, proud and authoritative Emperor Voldemort. The only flaw in this was the still too-pale face indicating his less than healthy condition, luckily his mental state was quite good and he was very alert.

"Although not completely satisfactory, with the severity of my injury, no amount of potions could bring me back to optimal condition in such a short time." Voldemort dredged up a smile in the mirror and accepted the current conditions.

Lucius thought for a moment before bowing as he worriedly asked, "Master, must you return right now? The damage Nicholas Flamel did to your body was quite severe, enough to put you into a coma for six days, you only woke up today. What you should be doing now is resting so that you can recover as soon as possible, and not rushing back to the Manor to see Master Harry as soon as you awaken. Of course I am not saying that you should not see Master Harry, but your current condition doesn't really permit it and on Master Harry's end I have already made the necessary arrangements, he does not suspect anything, so you can rest for a couple more days before returning. Also, Master Harry's condition worsened several days ago and he is not as well as before, if he were to see you like this... he might not be able to take it."

At hearing Lucius' words, a wry smile appeared on Voldemort's face. Turning to Snape, he asked another of his trusted followers a question, "Severus, you heard Lucius, what do you think? Do you think I should go to Harry, or should I stay and rest?"

At his Master's query Snape stood and bowed before replying truthfully, "Honored Master, I believe Lucius has a point. Your current condition is not optimal for such high level magic as apparition nor is it advisable to spend an extended period flying, if anything were to happen to Master, Harry would be devastated. But..." here he paused, "to say that Harry has no idea that something has happened to Master is, I believe, unlikely. During this week Harry has occasionally seemed worried, although it was not obvious, he was not as calm as usual."

Voldemort nodded in approval, he had known that as close as Snape and Harry were, he would have been able to see any signs of irregularity in Harry. "Lucius, you have not spent as much time with Harry as Snape so you don't understand him too well. A lie of me being away because I needed to supervise a time-consuming and important mission would not be believed by Harry, he would have taken steps to find out the truth, even if it would have aggravated his condition." At this, he voice grew deeper, just the thought of Harry's condition worsening so much that he had had to be resuscitated several times made him want to fly to Voldemort Manor immediately to take Harry into his arms, kiss him deeply and tell him that he had recovered fully and that Harry did not need to worry anymore. "He must have learned something to cause him to behave differently and that is why I must go back immediately, so that he stops placing further strain on his body."

Lucius immediately responded, "Master of course knows Master Harry best, as such, I also believe that Master should return as soon as possible."

"Hm." Voldemort nodded, "You have done well this past week." Under tremendous pressure from the Order of the Phoenix, Lucius and Snape had led dozens of his followers into a dozen or more skirmishes large and small, not only keeping a stable footing, but even increasing their slight advantage, he was very pleased. "You have done very well, beyond my expectations."

"It was what we should have done, Great Master." They replied simultaneously.

Snape escorted Voldemort back to the Manor before taking his leave. Voldemort called a house elf before getting in the carriage taking him to the Manor, "Where is Master Harry?" He asked impatiently. On learning that Harry was watching tv with Nagini, he rushed over there right away.

**215.**

[Harry, you aren't paying attention.] Nagini turned her massive head and her forked tongue to taste the air. She rarely split her attention while watching the tv but Harry's behavior was becoming more and more obvious in the last few days and she could not pretend to not have seen. She was not like those humans who could only base their assessments on how someone _appeared_ to be.

Harry forced himself to smile widely, feigning joy., [I am paying attention Nagini, I think you are the one not paying attention.]

Nagini did not deny this, instead she graciously admitted to this, [True, I am not paying attention, that was how I discovered that you were also not paying attention. Are you worried about Voldy?]

Nagini's words struck the heart of the matter and Harry could not spare any thought for the tv anymore as his expression darkened, [Yes, I am worried about him, very worried.]

Compared to Harry's gut-wrenching anxiety, Nagini was quite laid back. [We both know how powerful Voldy is, even if those little idiots kept some things from you, Voldy will be fine. Even if he was injured, it would not be life-threatening.]

[But he's unconscious, has been for a while..."

[As long as he's not in risk of dying, as long as he's not dead it's alright.] Nagini was completely unable to understand Harry's concern. Due to some kind of connection between them, Nagini had felt it as soon as Voldemort was injured, she also felt it when Voldemort lost consciousness, but that was not an issue for her, as long as Voldemort still lived she did not need to worry.

Harry's mouth opened then closed again as he shook his head disconsolately, [Forget it, you wouldn't understand anyway.] Not knowing whether Voldemort had woken up yet, not knowing his condition... if there was still no news by tomorrow, he would take another risk!

It was Nagini who first noticed Voldemort. Although she loved watching tv, the one thing she didn't like was watching commercials, every time commercials came up her eyes would dart around the room and this time her eyes fell on Voldemort as he stood at the door. Harry on the other hand, was too lost in worry and speculation over Voldemort's injuries to notice the arrival of his lover.

Her eyes moving from Voldemort, who was staring mutely at Harry where he was standing in the doorway, to Harry, whose face was filled with worry and unhappiness, Nagini slithered quietly down the sofa towards the doorway, as she slid past the man standing there, her tail curled lightly over his ankle in a silent welcome home.

Voldemort crept silently to the sofa and sat carefully before taking Harry's skeletal shoulders into his arms. The feel of bones under his hands chilled him. Even someone with no knowledge of healing could feel that Harry's days were numbered. It was fortunate that he had wrested the Philosopher's stone from the hands of Nicholas Flamel and had already started to manufacture the Elixir of Life, soon Harry would no longer need to live with a body that might fail at any minute.

"Voldy?" Harry turned and stared dumbly at the man who was embracing him. Black, curly hair, handsome features, tall, strong body, this was the man he had been worried about for the last six days, with no holes or gaping wounds, not missing an arm or a leg, heart beating and pulse readily felt, breathing normal, just slightly pale and sickly looking. "You're back."

"Yes, I'm back." Harry's comical running of his hand over his body and listening to his heart did not make Voldemort want to laugh, instead, the young man's hurried actions brought tears to his eyes, if it were not for his excellent self-control the tears might have fallen. Once he had thought that he would never cry, now he realized that he, like other wizards, can shed tears, because being taken care of by the one in his arms, the one that he deeply loves, is a wonderful feeling.

"Thank Merlin!" After confirming that Voldemort had indeed returned relatively unscathed, at least physically, Harry was finally able to relax. Leaning into Voldemort's embrace, he mumbled over and over, "Thank Merlin you're alright, thank Merlin..." and quickly fell into slumber.

Voldemort carried Harry back into the bedchamber and put him on their huge bed as he stared unblinkingly at Harry's face, currently relaxed in sleep. Harry's quick fall into slumber had shown that he was not wrong in his supposition, Harry had not slept well in the past couple of days, he may not even have slept at all. Harry's expression of relief caused his heart to tighten in pain. Thinking back to the chaotic dreams he had had in the last six days, about Merope, Morfinn, Tom Riddle and even some other wizards, even in these dreams Harry had always been with him, traveling through those long journeys and helping him to finally wake up.

Harry was Merlin's gift to him and he would never let him go.

**216.**

As the mental strain had finally lifted, Harry slept until noon the next day, awakening to a grumbling stomach, he flushed at Voldemort's gentle mirth. After eating lunch Harry was carried to the rocking chair in the garden, as Voldemort sat beside him and took his hand, Harry turned to look at the man as he asked, "Aren't you going to explain what happened?"

Well, some things can't be avoided, Voldemort consoled himself. Shrugging he relaying in as relaxed a tone as possible, "It was nothing really. A week ago, Richard..."

"Richard? Which Richard? Richard Colson?" Harry interrupted Voldemort, not letting him make light of things.

Voldemort paused and glanced at Harry's solemn face, then he nodded, "Um, yes, old Baron Colson's son, your friend, Richard Colson. He told me that he had found where Nicholas Flamel and his wife were living, so I went to them, to buy the Philosopher's stone from them. You have to understand that I offered excellent terms and I was very sincere. But they were not willing to deal, in fact they were very stubborn about it. And I of course, couldn't just give up my plans so in the end, we had to settle the issue of the Stone's ownership by force. The result was that I was badly wounded, but I got the Stone as well as the Flamels, so you see, even though I was unconscious for six days and seven nights, it was very much worth it." It was fortunate that Dumbledore had such confidence in the abilities of the Flamels and the couple were not accustomed to having people with them, he and his Death Eaters only had to face two people, greatly decreasing the difficulty of the task. Dumbledore must be furious. At this, Voldemort broke into a smile as he looked at Harry, hoping for some praise from his little lover.

Contrary to his expectations, Harry was not even slightly impressed, instead his expression was filled with disappointment and rage. "You were so badly wounded just to get the Philosopher's Stone?! That thing will not be of any help to me! Why did you have to do something so meaningless? You know very well that this could not have the slightest hope of succeeding! Who put this thought in your head? I'm going to send him to the Demetors or Inferi!"

Harry was enraged. Voldemort almost died for that worthless stone, but it would not help improve his condition in any way, what would happen to the child in Lily's belly if his health was restored and his lifespan was extended endlessly? If that child ceased to exist, so would he!

At first Voldemort was somewhat amused by Harry's reaction, but when he realized that Harry was so worked up that he almost couldn't breathe as his face flushed, he immediately fed Harry a potion to calm him down, then sent his magic into Harry's body to help soothe it, murmuring meaningless words to help calm his emotions, when Harry calmed down, he took his hand again and conveyed his thoughts on the matter. "Trust me Harry, I have already thought of a way to save your life, as soon as the elixir is done, we will get started. Don't get too excited, listen to me, it's not what you think, I already know of your connection with that child, would I do anything stupid knowing that? I can't tell you how it's going to work right now, it will be a surprise. So before that, you must live, you can't get worked up like that anymore. Your body is too weak, if you don't take care of it, you won't make it till that day comes."

Harry shook his head to confirm that he wasn't dreaming, but Voldemort's bright red eyes were completely serious, his face was more solemn than Harry had ever seen them before. Harry swallowed before asking, very, very softly, "Voldy... you... what did you just say? Did I... I must have heard you wrong, I thought I heard you say that you had found a way to save my life... I heard wrong right? Yes, yes, it was a mistake, how could that be possible? I... I..." He kept shaking his head in denial, he had to have heard wrong, there was no chance that he could be saved.

Voldemort wrapped his arms around Harry and held him tightly, as though he would never let go, the young man in his arms was shivering like a frightened little bird caught out in the rain, his body was frighteningly chilled. Voldemort's heart ached as though it was being struck by numerous cutting hexes and was bleeding profusely. Always so calmly facing Death, Harry's facade had finally been ripped away in this moment, showing his true emotions, he did not want to leave this world, not like this. Fortunately, so very fortunately, there was still hope. "You did not hear wrong Harry, I have really found a way to heal you, it's true. Just twenty-five days more and you will be the old Harry Potter again!"

**217.**

After long moments, Harry finally realized that there was nothing wrong with his ears, and he was not imagining things. Slowly, ever so slowly, he recovered from the shock, his once empty expression regained its past liveliness, he struggled to stay calm but the corners of his mouth kept hitching up as his moist eyes curled into smiling crescent moons. "I will live... I will live..." He muttered over and over, as though his mind had gone into overdrive, his hand, tightly held in Voldemort's own, grasped back at his lover's hand so tightly that it left five nail marks on Voldemort's hand. Suddenly, Harry's head jerked up as, voice full of hope, he asked Voldemort, "Voldy, Voldy, will I really live? You... you're not just saying that, I will really live through this? Please don't lie to me, I understand that I will die so you don't need to try to make me feel better!"

"I am sure of it, you will live through this, you will be able to survive this healthy and whole, I am definitely not lying to you, I swear to Merlin!" Voldemort held his lover tighter, Harry's rollercoaster ride of emotions was bringing a rush of heat and moisture into his own eyes at how much pressure Harry had been under in the past few months.

After repeated reassurances over the next 30 minutes, Harry finally accepted the truth, Voldemort had indeed found a way to ensure that he could continue to safely live in this world, with no repercussions or adverse effects. Harry buried his face in Voldemort's chest, his eyes blinking repeatedly as he told himself over and over again not to cry, hoping to stop the flow of tears, but the water in his eyes seemed to be unending, no matter how much he blinked, his tears were still drenching Voldemort's robes.

In truth he had been living in perpetual fear, terrified that he would have to leave this world. He had tried to console Voldemort, saying that after he disappeared he would simply join with the other Harry from another time before coming back to Voldemort to continue living their life together, but he had known that the possibility of that happening was infinitesimal. That other Harry had his own life and their two lives would have no point of convergence or similarity whatsoever, how then would he be able to one day take the place of that other Harry's soul? But if he didn't try to think this way, if he didn't insist on this to Voldemort, he could not have kept his smiling and confident outlook to face his coming demise. He was no longer that Harry Potter from 2011, that had looked at everything with a tinge of despair and apathy, this world was filled with people he did not want to leave behind: Nagini, Snape, Remus, Richard and Rose, Lucius... Nicholas was a good student and Allan a respected elder... also, his beloved Voldemort, Voldemort who he loved with his whole heart and soul. The mere thought of having the be separated from Voldemort terrified him so much he could not sleep peacefully, just thinking that he might lose this man who loved Harry as much as he was loved brought him to the brink of disintegration. He wanted so much not to have to leave this man's side that he had to make up something to convince himself that he would one day be able to come back to him. That was the only way that he could walk to his death and leave Voldemort behind, by believing that he would one day return.

But even though he had sufficient reason to leave quietly and peacefully, it could not compare to being able to continue to live by Voldemort's side. To be able to be with Voldemort forever, to watch as the man he loved move ever closer to fulfilling his dream, that was what Harry wanted most to do. After all, the reasons he had made up to convince himself were too flimsy and improbable, it was more likely that he would never be able to see Voldemort again, thus, when he learned that he could continue to live, with Voldemort, he could no longer control his emotions or his tears. In the past, he was the Savior, the one who was meant to save everyone, he did not have the right to be weak, nor did he have the right to weep, now he was just Harry Potter, the one that Voldemort protected lovingly, finally, inside the circle of Voldemort's arms, he could experience what it was like to cry freely, just like he had experienced all the other kinds of love Voldemort had given him.

**218.**

Although the brewing of the Elixir of Life did not take overly long compared to the brewing of other complex potions, to Harry, who was barely a step away from death, twenty-five days were still too long, on the twenty-third day, he fell into a deep coma. Seeing this, Voldemort temporarily handed everything into the hands of Lucius so that he could stay by Harry's side at Voldemort Manor. On the 28th of July, a mere three days before that other Harry would be born, the elixir was finally completed successfully.

Voldemort vaulted out of the bed on receiving the news, commanding Snape to bring the elixir to the garden of Voldemort Manor immediately, then he carried Harry to the garden, not daring to walk too fast as Harry's body could not bear the effects of even the slightest jolt.

The once verdant and luxuriant garden of Voldemort Manor was completely wiped away at a single command from Voldemort, twelve powerful wizards worked night and day over twenty-five days to create a huge magical array on the freshly cleared ground, under the cold light of the moon, the array shone with a silvery glow. Lucius and Jim had arrive at the Manor hours ago to direct the house elves in taking care of any remaining arrangements, not long after that Snape had also arrived, bringing out a clear, long-necked crystal vial under the heated gaze of the other two, a thick golden liquid moved sluggishly inside the vial, sporadically emitting a curious lilac glow.

Everything was in place.

Voldemort took the elixir and blood replenisher potion from Snape and walked into the center of the array with Harry in his arms, after spreading out a thick, soft woolen blanket he carefully placed Harry on top of it, with the same amount of care, he wrapped Harry tightly in another soft, woolen blanket. After all the preparation was complete, he began the key stage.

Taking out his wand, Voldemort pointed it at his own left wrist as he muttered an obscure and complex incantation. Soon a thin strand of red shot violently from his left wrist and proceeded to coat each line of the huge array with a layer of red. The longer the red strand continued to shoot out, the paler Voldemort became until he was completely pallid then grey. The best medium for activating the array was blood, it would have a 120% return. After Voldemort's blood soaked through every line of the array, the entire design first shone a brilliant red before erupting with blinding golden light.

Unstoppering the blood replenisher potion, Voldemort took several hurried sips before pointing his wand at the comatose Harry at the appropriate moment, incanting loudly, "By the blood of Tom Marvolo Riddle, by the life of Tom Marvolo Riddle, by the will of Tom Marvolo Riddle. With blood bound, with life done, with will the remaining lifetime is transferred, Tom Marvolo Riddle will only live for ten more days."

At the conclusion of the incantation, a column of translucent black mist shot from the top of his wand to engulf Harry from head to toe, the mist turned from translucent to opaque, then from opaque back to translucent, during this time Harry's complexion returned to a healthy glow and his breathing began to grow even, his heart beat also strengthening, he was no longer someone who was comatose due to a weakened body, but instead someone who was simply deeply asleep.

At the same time, Voldemort was ageing at an astonishing rate, night black, curly hair turned white and wispy, handsome features grew lines and turned haggard with deep wrinkled grooves, sharp eyes became fogged over and teeth began to fall out, the tall, powerful body bent and shriveled, so decrepit that the man could not even stand properly, a trembling hand almost dropping the wand it was holding. When the mist faded away completely, Voldemort hurriedly unstoppered the vial containing the Elixir of Life and poured the entire contents down his throat, halting the ageing in its tracks, several more dark spells quickly restored his customary youth and vigor.

Satisfied, he lifted Harry into his arms and watched as his lover's lips curved into a faint smile even in slumber, unrestrained laughter fell from his lips, "My little sleeping beauty. Still sleeping after three days of slumber!"

After graciously receiving the congratulations of his three followers, Voldemort carried Harry back to their chambers. In the past three days, he had spent every moment looking after Harry, not even daring to relax for a single second, thus Voldemort's body was beyond exhausted, only able to stay awake through the use of Pepper up potion. Now that his greatest worry has been resolved, Voldemort relaxed and, holding Harry tightly in his arms, fell into slumber.

**219.**

What a curious feeling, thought Harry. He was awake but had not opened his eyes, because he found that the discomfort of the past few months had disappeared from his body, instead he was full of energy. The power surging constantly all over his body was something that he had not felt for far too long, it was enough to make him want to cry. In this second time of facing death, he had been much more fragile than the first time. The last thing he remembered was talking with Voldemort on the 28th of July, he slowly began to grow more tired and lethargic, he noticed that Voldemort seemed to be panicking and then consciousness faded away as his vision went black. At the time he thought he had died, perhaps he had, that would explain his currently healthy body, he had already left the year 1986 and was therefore no longer affected by the link with the child in Lily's belly.

But if he had left 1986 then was he back in the Time Corridor? He hoped so, because that way maybe he could see Voldemort again, Harry thought dejectedly. Gathering his courage he shakily opened his eyes, thinking that he would see the dark and gloomy Time Corridor, but the sight that greeted him was a very familiar canopy. Through the translucent green and silver bed curtains he could see the vague outline of a huge, golden chandelier.

Um, this appeared to be his and Voldemort's bed chamber.

A tide of joy rushed into his heart, he almost could not believe his wonderful good fortune, it seems that he had not died! After several deep breaths, still filled with joy as well as trepidation, he turned his head to where Voldemort's face usually lay, sometimes sleeping peacefully, sometimes filled with heat as he watched Harry. This time was no exception, he saw Voldemort's face, lax in sleep, hints of stress and fatigue around his eyes.

His eyes curved in a grin along with his lips, he had not died! Was there anything better in this world? Stretching out his arms he held as tightly to Voldemort as Voldemort was holding him.

It was dusk by the time the two left their bed chamber, Harry's delicate little face was flushed and glowing, his cat eyes were moist and limpid and his delicate lips were kiss-swollen, Voldemort was almost swaggering with smug satisfaction, left arm around Harry's waist to prevent his lover's body from sagging to the ground.

Nagini regarded them whimsically, [Ah, may I say "Welcome Back" Harry?]

[Of course you may Nagini, that is just what I wanted to hear.] Harry hugged the snake's huge head, affectionately rubbing his cheek against it, murmuring how much he missed the snake as he caressed her. The snake wrapped her body loving around him, responding to Harry's affection.

Voldemort patted Nagini, [Finally, we are together again. This time, nothing will separate us again.]

Harry smiled as he nodded his firm agreement.

After dinner, the two went to the study to talk.

"How did you do it?" Harry asked, mystified, "You have to tell me, no more keeping things from me!"

"It was nothing. I just gave you my life span then extended my own with the Philosopher's stone. This way, your life span is no longer connected to that child, you, belong to me."

"Voldy..." Harry was speechless, what could he say to someone willing to give their own life for him? All he could do was hold Voldemort as tightly as he could and swear to never leave his side.

On the 30th of July, the heavily protected Lily Potter was rushed into St Mungos and on the 31st she gave birth to an adorable boy with black hair and green eyes, James Potter named him Daniel on the spot, Daniel James Potter and not Harry James Potter. On hearing about this, Harry laughed joyfully.

On the 3rd of August, still under heavy protection by various wizards, Lily left St Mungos with James Potter, little Daniel in her arms, they returned to their home. Because of the layers of protection, nearby Death Eaters had no chance to seize the child and could only watch and sigh as they left. Immediately after that, the previously dormant efforts to capture Sirius Black again heated up. On the 10th of August, Harry joined the Ministry of Magic and fulfilled the career choice he had as a student, he became a minor employee of the Muggle Liaison Office- just as he had wanted. Work at the Muggle Liaison Office was leisurely and the hours were regular, Voldemort was very satisfied.

**220.**

As expected, with sufficient reward anything can be achieved. Once the ten thousand Galleon award was announced, Sirius was quickly betrayed by a common wizard. Although _silencio_-ed when brought before Voldemort, Sirius' hate-filled eyes made him no less chilling. But Voldemort cared nothing about that, after all this was just a prisoner, what more could he do. "Does the Order of the Phoenix know about this?" He asked offhandedly.

"Honored Master, as Black was hiding all over the place, it seems that not even the Order is aware of his true whereabouts."

Well, the Order may not be aware, but Dumbledore would surely know. Sending away all his follower, Voldemort proceeded to legillimenize Sirius. Sirius, whose Occlumency was nowhere near as proficient nor as well practiced as Dumbledore, soon had his mind laid bare to Voldemort, including the identity of the true secret keeper of the _Fidelius_. Well, I was correct in my supposition, Voldemort thought good-humoredly, now the only remaining obstacle was that Remus Lupin could not be tortured, damn it. "Take Sirius Black away, delivery him to... hm... Lord and Lady Black." House-arrest, imprisonment in the dungeons, as long as he wasn't killed it wouldn't matter.

Remus' fear and panic grew as the full moon approached. More than ten days ago, Voldemort had come to his cell and smiled enigmatically as he asked whether Remus would be willing to divulge James and Lily's address, at the time he had frozen in shock. Only two people in the world should be aware of who the secret keeper for the _fidelius_ was, one was Sirius and other was him. This was why he was originally so confused as to why Voldemort had wanted to capture him. Now, Voldemort's certainty told him that Voldemort knew this secret, the only explanation was that Sirius had been captured. Now, he understood why Voldemort had wanted to capture him alive, better to make sure to have him on hand if necessary than to risk letting him remain free, Voldemort's gamble had paid off. What surprised him was how easily Sirius had been made to divulge this secret- offhand he dismissed the possibility that Sirius had betrayed him- he panicked over the situation for a few moments but Voldemort's cold laughter helped him find his calm and steady himself, he maintained his silence. Voldemort left after more cold laughter. Then, this month, Snape did not bring the Wolfsbane Potion!

Since he had been thrown into this dungeon, Snape had been the one to bring him the Wolfsbane potion every month, but Snape did not come on the usual day, he thought it would come the next day, but it did not, nor did it come the day after that. He vaguely understood that this month, he may have to do without the potion.

His dwindling hope was completely dashed on the day before the full moon. Words could not express the overwhelming fear in his heart, the overpowering animal instincts unsettled him more each day. It has been many years since he had felt this way, the past several years of living with the Wolfsbane potion had relaxed his guard. But his time, he had to live as he did in the past- no! It would be even worse than it had been back then, much worse!

He had witnessed those who had taken the Wolfsbane and then stopped becoming despicable, horrifying monsters, ten time more terrible and blood thirsty than a regular werewolf during the full moon, they were creatures that truly attacked indiscriminately. After that bloody October, a large group of werewolves joined Voldemort so that they would have access to the Wolfsbane potion each month, some amongst that group despised Death Eaters but terror and despair forced them to join the only side that could create the Wolfsbane potion, Voldemort's side, and so they betrayed their families and their ideals, that was at least better than murdering their families with their own hands.

Remus could guess what Voldermort was trying to do, this full moon he was about to become the Death Eaters' weapon and the Order's worst nightmare, then they would tell him what he had done after he was transformed, he did not think that he would be able to maintain his resolve and stay silent if he was faced with the bloody corpses of his victims. Right now, there was no escape, being outside during the full moon would be dangerous for everyone, all he could do was die. In death, he would be able to destroy Voldemort's plans, with his death he could protect James and Lily's secret.

Snape saved him, he hated that big nosed, greasy git, he hated Snivellus!

What he hated more was that the man brought him even greater pain, Snape's potion put him to sleep and when he woke up, it was twenty-one days after the full moon.


	24. Chapters 221-230

**221.**

As soon as the guard realized that Remus was awake, a meal was brought, then Snape came. Snape strode arrogantly into the cell and placed a pensieve onto the desk, sneering, he said, "Enjoy Remus Lupin, your performance was incredible."

Although he had no memory of what he had done in the past twenty odd days, from past experience, Remus already had some idea, still Snape's words were a heavy blow that caused him to shudder, did that smug tone indicate that the devastation he had created had been even greater than Remus had imagined?! Starring apprehensively at the pensieve, Remus hesitated over whether or not to look, on the one hand, he did not want to witness scenes of himself killing fellow Order members, on the other hand, he did want to know what he had done, perhaps things weren't as bad as Snape is implying?

After steadying himself, he decided to look. He put his head into the pensieve, when he pulled his head out, his face had lost all color and was alternately grey and green. His throat worked a couple of times before with a cry, he threw up, not only did he throw up everything he had just eaten, he threw up whatever food was left in his stomach before that, after which he continued to throw up bile. Finally, there was nothing left to come up, but he was still retching as he leaned against the wall, almost wishing that he could throw up his internal organs along with the food. Staggering over to the corner of the cell, he curled up into a ball on the floor, holding tightly to himself, trying to curl into a tiny inconspicuous dot. His head was buried deep into his arms and strangled, hoarse sobs reverberated throughout the cell.

He had killed so many people, so very many!

Wizard or muggle, man or woman, child or elderly, as long as they were not Death Eaters, he had attacked them with all his might, he could not even count how many had died under his razor-sharp fangs and claws. Some powerful wizards were able to escape with their lives but they would never be the same, he had turned them with his teeth and claws. And so he could not bear to finish watching the memories in the pensieve, as soon as he had seen himself tearing out the throat of a muggle baby and drinking its blood, he could handle no more and staggered away from the pensieve.

The instincts of a beast could be so very incredible, and upon the return of sanity, it became devastating. The thought of those lives lost under his hands and of those who had been turned by him chilled him completely. What he had been terrified of his whole life was that his inner beast might be the cause of death and devastation in others, he had once been a victim of such a beast and had experienced the agony, but now...

He roared in anguish and pain as he pulled madly at his hair, tears streaking down his face. He was gentle and kind in nature, he was a good man, so why was he being punished like this? He had not asked to be turned, he had not wanted to become a killer or to turn others, he never wanted that!

The skies darkened and darkness covered the cell. Remus was still frozen in the corner, his tears having long since dried, he sat there quietly, quietly staring at nothing, shadowed eyes almost dead.

Perhaps it would have been better if he had gone mad, but he was far too sane and aware.

There were only a few days until the next full moon, if the Wolfsbane potion was withheld from him again. He will again be used as a weapon in battle by the Death Eaters, he will become their best assassin. At this thought, he began to retch again, but there was nothing left to come up, not even water. But, he was not capable of betraying his friends. James, Sirius and Peter were the only wizards who were still willing to be his friends after learning that he was a werewolf, that alone was a gift that transcended friendship, he could not betray his friends because of his own issues. But would he have the courage to face the aftermath of another full moon? To face those he had killed and turned? Was what he was doing truly right?

Friendship and morality, he could not choose between them, nor did he have time to make a choice, the final deadline for receiving the Wolfsbane potion this month was approaching.

**222.**

High up on his golden throne, Voldemort observed Remus, two nights ago, when Remus had returned to human form, he had gone to observe him, after confirming that none of his own followers had been injured he had ordered Remus to be returned to his cell, after just one day Remus had become so haggard as to be almost unrecognizable. The brown hair was beginning to show signs of silver, amber eyes were bloodshot and empty, almost like those of someone who had been kissed by a dementor. It seems that Remus had been hard hit by his actions while transformed. Voldemort was very happy with the result, it was time to turn the screws, Remus would soon buckle under the pressure.

After clearing his throat, he started, "Lupin, do you now understand the results of defying me?"

Remus lifted his head to stare at the ceiling as though he had not heard a word that Voldemort had said.

"How do you feel after seeing so many dead at your hands, so many turned into werewolves because of you?"

Remus' glazed eyes twitched before once again becoming lifeless and unmoving.

"Ah, I was wrong, you should be overjoyed." Voldemort seemed to be quite pleased, "At the time you were reveling in the carnage and death, the screams and the blood, so much so that my followers were completely unable to rein you in. Do you want to know how many people you killed? How many you turned?" He said with a smile, blood red eyes boring into Remus, after a moment he answered his own question with a chilling smile he kept to himself, "In these twenty-one days you killed thirty wizards, wounded twelve others- well, this isn't really too great a number, but you had better results on the muggle side, would you like to hear them?" He smugly watched Remus' face becoming paler and paler as his crossed legs swung nonchalantly.

But Remus remained resolutely silent, not even looking at Voldemort.

"Well, let me see." Grabbing a sheet of parchment, Voldement devoted all his attention to reading it, "Killed fifty women, forty-two muggles aged sixty and over, twenty-one infants. These are fairly good numbers don't you think?"

Remus shuddered violently as he clenched his fists tightly, driving his nails into his own palms- he cannot give in, if he had to choose between strangers and James and Lily, he would choose the latter.

Voldemort sneered, _so, Remus Lupin, still not willing to give in?_ "It seems I was wrong about you Lupin, you still wish to go on a mindless rampage this month." He shook his head, "How wrong I was, I thought you were a kind, gentle, peace-loving, moral and steadfast wizard, but now, for your friends, you are going to give up the career that you worked so hard for and turn your fangs and claws on the muggles, slaughtering them without mercy. They didn't have to die, they could have gone on with their lives you know, I had not thought to cause the muggles any more trouble, but you have brought death to them, just because you need to protect your friends' little secret. In truth, it's not like I'm going to kill James and Lily Potter, nor will I try to kill Daniel Potter, I just want to get my hands on him, but you won't have it, you would rather kill those innocent muggles instead to ensure that your friend can have his happy little family- you are being selfish and cold Lupin. I never thought that you could be so cold-hearted... are you really a Gryffindor? You hear the terrible screams and see those people being torn apart by you, see the tears in the eyes of the families of those you killed, yet you are still completely unmoved, just keeping your friend's secret, I must say Lupin, you are more dark than any Slytherin."

Remus' hands had started to bleed from his nails digging into his palms but he still remained silent. Yes, he was being very cold and cruel, but he was doing this for the future peace and stability of both the magical and muggle worlds. As long as little Daniel can grow up safely under the protection of the Order of the Phoenix, he will one day be able to defeat Voldemort and save both worlds. The current sacrifice was necessary, unavoidable, as soon as... as soon as... little Daniel grew up... he would take his own life in repentance.

Lucius was puzzled, "Master, why are you going so easy on Lupin? I feel that we can use slightly more extreme methods..."

Voldemort waved him off, "No matter. He may stay silent if he wishes, if he wants to be defiant let him be defiant, I would like to see how long he can keep it up." His eyes glimmered with a steely light.

**223.**

On his return to Voldemort Manor, Voldemort was immediately pulled inside by Harry, "How was it, did Remus say anything?" He asked impatiently.

Voldemort shook his head softly as he replied somewhat helplessly, "Although he appears quite weak usually, Lupin is rather stubborn. No matter how I push him, he just won't talk."

Harry sighed soundlessly, he of all people understood Remus, despite his meek and gentle appearance, he was in truth very determined, although Harry had not expected Remus to still be able to resolutely keep his promise to James and Lily under such potent and vicious stimuli. "Is there any other way to make him tell us as soon as possible?"

"Yes." Voldemort nodded solemnly, "but you would never agree to it." Harry would agree to fabricating some memories, but anything even slightly substantial and he was bound to get mad.

After a moment of silence, Harry walked slowly over to the window, the refreshing evening breeze caressing his face. The night sky was filled with winking stars that were reflected in the emerald depths of the pond outside the window. "I don't know how, but I feel that there is something wrong with the child. It would be best if we can get Remus to talk before something happens and the matter is taken out of our hands." After his awakening, Harry had been plagued by a strong sense of uneasiness. Not for himself but for the child at Lily's side. By rights the child should be in a very safe place, under the protection of the Order, but still he was uneasy, as though something had befallen the child, something bad. He doesn't know what this something was but he trusted his own instincts that were honed from over nine years of living in life and death situations, not to boast or anything but not even Voldemort had as good instinct as Harry.

_If only Harry would harden his heart I could get this done_, Voldemort thought. Still he answered in the affirmative, "Alright, I will have Lupin talking by next month."

Awakening after another full moon, Remus gagged at the mere scent of food, he felt as though his mouth was filled with the taste of blood and raw flesh and the rust like scent made his stomach turn. Slowly curling himself into a ball, he told himself. "Everything I'm doing is for a better, peaceful future, I am doing this for a reason, I will take my own life to pay for my crimes as soon as the war is over so I must stand fast!" Everything in front of his eyes seemed hazy and indistinct, with his actions, what was to separate him from the Death Eaters? No matter how much he told himself that he was being forced to kill others, no matter how just he insisted his actions were, those were still living people that had lost their lives at his hands... even children, innocent, pure babies, what had they done that they had to die by his hand? Being forced- could he truly stand guilt-free with such an excuse?

He curled his body tighter as his eyes misted even more, was he really so cowardly as to try to convince himself of this?

No matter how unwilling he was, he was again brought before Voldemort, at the sight of the malicious man sitting on the throne, his heart clenched as the rusty scent seemed to float into his nose, making him want to be sick.

When Voldemort's wand was pointed at Remus, memories flowed past his mind and his face changed rapidly, first flushing red, then turning green, then purple and even black before paling completely. Finally he couldn't stop himself from falling to the ground to throw up until he was vomiting bile.

"Your performance was very good this time Lupin, you are always surprising me." Voldemort's smile was evil, "Your results were impressive so how should I reward you? Not only were _your_ mission results very good, the achievements of the werewolves you created were also impressive. I believe that at this rate, maybe you alone will be able to completely destroy the Order of the Phoenix." He chuckled as he watched Remus shudder uncontrollably. Stepping down from his throne, he slowly approached Remus and bent down to whisper in his ear, "Perhaps, on the next full moon, I will arrange for you to meet Sirius Black."

Remus jerked his head up, appalled, "No! You can't do that!"

Voldemort took a small step back as he responded coldly, "And why not? Even though Sirius Black is a member of the Black family, he is a worthless blood traitor, the Blacks have disowned him and he is not one of mine, who would dare say a word if I were to throw him to you at the next full moon?"

Remus dropped his head despairingly, knowing that Voldemort's words were true, he really could have him kill his best friend.

**224.**

"Of course, you do have a choice." Voldemort smiled with some pity, although to Remus it only looked heartless and cold. "All you have to do is tell me where James and Lily Potter live and I will give you the Wolfsbane potion and not send you to the battlefield, of course, nor will I have you kill your good friend Sirius Black." He paused as he glanced at Remus, pleased to see the man's body twitch slightly as he began to look conflicted. "Nor will I hurt the Potters, I only want the child."

After another few minutes of silence and observing Remus' everchanging expression, Voldemort knew that using Sirius Black as a threat and the promise of future peace was having an effect. "Take some time to consider it, are you going to hold on to the bitter end and kill your good friend, or will you tell me the secret, let me have the child and let yourself have some peace as well." He raised his voice to call to his followers outside the doors, "Come, take Mr. Remus Lupin back to the dungeon, take good care of him."

After his followers took Remus away, Voldemort returned to his throne with a smile, savouring Remus' pained expression as he involuntarily clenched his fists, _you cannot escape now Lupin._

The fear of having to kill his friend with his own hands was the final straw that broke the camel's back, Remus' resolve was completely destroyed and before the third full moon, he had told Voldemort James and Lily's address- at Godric's Hollow. After revealing the secret he collapsed to the ground as though he had aged a decade or more in a moment.

Satisfied, Voldemort began to seriously consider what to do with Lupin, it would not be appropriate to return him to the dungeons, but if he were to be remanded to a follower then he would have to pick a reliable, loyal one... he called for one of his Death Eaters, "Take Lupin to Mr. Snape, tell him it is my wish that he take good care of Mr. Lupin. Also, I have decided to give Mr. Snape five days of leave, then-" He whispered several more instructions to his follower, after a slightly shocked pause, the follower glanced at Remus somewhat disbelievingly, "Just inform him of my instructions, if Severus wishes to defy me then let him try." At this Voldemort's expression grew somewhat vicious.

The Death Eater bowed and levitated Remus away, still glancing at him with some disbelief. It was hard to believe that Mr. Snape was actually interested in someone like this...

When the hall was finally empty, Voldemort gave a long sigh as he fell back into his throne, finally relaxed. Finally, finally, he had pried open Lupin's mouth and gotten the required information. That child could not be left in the hands of the Order, it was bad enough when the Order only had Dumbledore, with a Saviour as well, the threats to his plans of dominination would increase tremendously. Although he was fairly sure that even if he got hold of the child, there might be something wrong with the babe (Dumbledore was bound to have done something) but still he needed to have the child before he could take steps to fix whatever was done- everything had gone back to the starting point. Of course, it would not be easy to get his hands on the child, with Black having been captured for so long, Dumbledore would already know that his sights were set on Daniel Potter and Godric's Hollow would be guarded most securely and he may lose many wizards on this mission... perhaps the suggestion made by those little muggles several days ago may come in handy.

At this thought he chuckled, what expression would appear on the faces of the Order members and especially on Dumbledore's long face when they discover that Voldemort had used muggle weapons to harm them, weapons made by the so-called (as least to the Order) harmless and defenceless muggles.

"Come in my faithful. We have a large offensive to plan." Voldemort called to his followers outside the doors, including several newly recruited muggles.

Muggles, the group thought to be weak and useless by the magical world, at Voldemort's inspirational words, after seeing a demonstration of Voldemort's overwhelming power and under Voldemort's promises of a bright future, this group had stepped into the conflict of the magical world with no regret, with the hopes that they, who were thought to be weak, could show their true strength and carve out a place for themselves in the Death Eaters' world and in the future.

**225.**

That night, Voldemort couldn't wait to tell Harry the good news about Remus, contentedly holding his lover in his arms while he described how he was going to raise little Daniel into the leader of the next generation of wizards. The power of standing above the entire world and holding the power of life and death over everyone was intoxicating, this was why he had risked everything in this war, so that he could enjoy this power for eternity, but sometimes even he found all the work that had to be done tedious, as he sat on his throne, alone, doing all that needed to be done, he would feel inexplicably lonely, not even the power of sitting on his throne could compare to spending time with Harry when even the air seemed to be filled with the scent of peace and happiness. Perhaps he was really getting old, the feel of conquering everything and sweeping all dissent aside used to make his blood rush and his heart pound but now it didn't seem to have as much of an effect on him, now his heart was filled more and more with thoughts of where he would travel with Harry on vacations, what sights they would see and what foods they would sample. Every time he thought of what Harry's expression would be when he saw the beautiful sights he couldn't help but smile. "I believe this child will be a worthy heir, I have confidence in my education methods and goals."

On this Harry had no doubts, he only had some slight reservation on certain details. As a teacher, Voldemort was doubtless outstanding, his vast knowledge and humourous, simplistic narrative was easily able to capture students' hearts, but also without doubt was the fact that Voldemort still had some biases- even though he was working hard to correct this. However, Harry felt that he was just trying too hard to find fault, after all, it wasn't like it would just be Voldemort educating the child once he was brought here. He himself would also be getting involved and he could correct any prejudice that Voldemort may inadvertently pass on to little Daniel while avoiding any character maladjustment that might be created if their followers fawned over little Daniel too much. However, "Why are you looking to take on the raising of little Daniel so soon? After all, you have a lot of time ahead of you." He looked over Voldemort somewhat suspiciously, trying to find some clue.

Voldemort embraced him and rested his chin on Harry's shoulder, "Harry, I remember..."

"What do you remember?"

"I remember that I said I would travel the world with you. Together we will listen to sirens sing, visit the elven forest to pick elven fruit, go and see the snow on Mount Kilimanjaro, climb Mount Everest, watch the sun rise over the sea and set over the Gobi Desert." His eyes were filled with anticipation, "There are so many things we will be doing together, if we don't have a suitable heir, all our plans will be for naught."

Harry was completely still as he listened, Voldemort's words were like a warm stream flowing in through his ears and travelling all over his body and heating it slowly. Yes, there were so many things the two of them could do together, it would be too sad to keep Voldemort trapped behind his desk, weighed down with paperwork. Putting his arms around the man's neck, he softly kissed Voldemort's cheek, "You're right, you do need a worthy heir." He answered with a soft chuckle.

This kiss led to serious consequences, or at least Harry thought so as the next time he was able to recall that he had something he needed to ask Voldemort, it was already the next morning, as he mutely watched Voldemort get out of bed and get dressed.

"Oh, now I remember. Voldy!" He called out as he grabbed hold of Voldemort's robe. The Muggle Liaison Office could be said to be the most quiet department in the Ministry of Magic and Harry usually got out of bed much later than Voldemort.

"What is it my treasure?" Voldemort lowered his head to give Harry's cheek a smiling peck.

"Remus, what happened with Remus? Where is he now, is he still in the dungeons?" Harry hurriedly asked. He had not objected to Voldemort throwing Remus in the dungeons previously mainly because Remus had information that was vital to Voldemort at the time, now that Remus no longer had any use, he would not permit his lover to keep his respected pseudo-parent in the dungeons.

"Oh, him..." Voldemort smiled wickedly, "You'll know in five days."

**226.**

After his recovery, Harry had begun to eat with Snape more often, but on this occasion Harry was shocked upon seeing Snape, "Sev, why do you look like a lemon that has had all its juice squeezed out?" The Snape that was sitting opposite Harry had two huge black circle under his eyes and his cheeks were sunken, overall he looked haggard, his robe's high collar was buttoned tight and covered his neck completely. Harry wondered at this, although it was now November it was still not so cold that one had be covered up so tightly right? Nor was this fashionable nor in accordance with Slytherin aesthetics. So, "Sev, are you ill?" Harry asked worriedly as he pulled out his wand in preparation, ready to cast diagnostic charms on Snape.

Snape hurriedly pushed away Harry's wand as he replied in a low voice, "N...no."

Harry blinked, when had Snape ever spoken in such soft and somewhat hesitant tones? There had to be a problem, seeing him like this Harry was sure that he had to be ill. So he pulled his wand away from Snape's hand and insisted, "Don't, I can tell by how you look that you must be ill. It's alright, did you forget that I used to be a very proficient healer, I will definitely be able to heal whatever ailment you have, great or small..."

Snape again grabbed his wand but was somewhat weak in tone as he replied "Harry, really, I'm not ill, please put your wand away. I am truly not unwell."

Harry cocked his head as he blinked at Snape's more forceful words, putting away his wand, he lowered his voice, even though there was no one else around, "What is it? What happened these past five days?"

After seven or eight deep breaths, Snape had finally suppressed the bittersweet feelings as he replied, "You know of course that Remus revealed the secret."

"Hm." Harry nodded heavily.

"Do you know where Remus went after that?" Snape then asked.

Harry replied gloomily, "No, Voldy wouldn't tell me. Do you know?" No matter what he did, Voldy kept his mouth shut tight as a clam and when he asked the other Death Eaters, he found that no one else knew.

"Of course I know." Snape's eyes narrowed slightly with some indecipherable emotion, "He... he's at my house."

Harry's jaw dropped and he was speechless. "Voldy... Voldy had someone take Remus to your house?" He looked over Snape then smirked, "Well, it looks like he wasn't _just _taken to your house." _Well, well, with how exhausted Snape looks, he has probably been __**very busy**__ these past five days._

"Hm... there were..." Snape glanced away, "there were two potions as well, recreational ones."

"Then should I be congratulating you?" Harry teased good-naturedly, "Congratulations on getting your heart's desire and having Remus."

Snape immediately grew despondent, "Getting? At the time he had no idea what he was doing, when he woke up this morning-" he paused and shook his head, "He hates me Harry."

Harry was silent. Things always seemed to careen out of control so much that Snape had no way to adjust. Voldemort meant well, but what was Snape, who had been set on silently protect Remus from afar, to do now?

"Well, why don't you just tell him everything." Harry said, this was the only solution he could think of.

"I don't know. I don't know what would be the best thing for him." Snape replied, "Perhaps it would be better to let him continue to hate me..."

"But would that not affect the image of the halfblood prince in his mind?" Harry responded, "What happened between you and he could not be kept from the halfblood prince forever, what do you think Remus would think if the halfblood prince had no reaction when he learns what happened."

Snape had no response to that. Harry was of course right, the Death Eater who had brought Remus had said that this matter would only be kept secret for five days. He had told Harry himself but others could learn of this through other channels. If the halfblood prince truly had no reaction it would not be plausible, however...

"It doesn't matter, maybe I will take this chance to convince Remus that the halfblood prince has died."

**227.**

On hearing Snape's words Harry was shocked still, then he grew enraged, "Don't be ridiculous! This time you will not have your stubborn way, you must at least listen to others' opinion!" When Snape had concealed things from Remus in the past Harry had not interfered, after all at that point the two had no obvious relationship, all anyone knew was that they loathed each other, under that condition, Snape's secrets, although somewhat masochistic, were not hurtful to anyone else and although Harry couldn't really understand why Snape's nature would lead to such a Snape-like solution, he had no real justification to interfere. All he could do was tell himself that the only one Snape was hurting was himself and no one else had the right to change that. But now, things had changed, Snape and Remus had become intimate and this was about to be known by everyone, if Snape went about things in his usual fashion, such as casting an _Obliviate_ or telling Remus that the halfblood prince was dead, then the one hurt would not just be Snape, it would also be Remus Lupin.

"In the past, you only tortured yourself but hurt no one else and I had no right to try to convince you otherwise, but now things have changed, have you thought about what this could do to Remus? You know better than I how much he loves the halfblood prince, now that he has already betrayed his friends, the halfblood prince might be the only person he can rely on, if you make him think the prince is dead... what do you think he will do?"

Snape went pale and shuddered as he shut his eyes, unable to say a word.

"Nothing to say? Well I'll say it for you! He'll die, because he won't have any reason to live anymore! Even if you can save him once, or twice or three times, can you be there in time to save him every time? All he needs is one successful try to leave this world! Also, even if you can keep him alive, if his heart is dead he wouldn't really be living anymore and then he might as well be dead." Seeing that Snape was about to open his mouth to reply, Harry raised his hand to stop him, "I know what you want to say, you want to say that if our side wins, you will reveal yourself to him as the halfblood prince, right? But like I just said, he may not last until that time, what good would your telling him do then? Also, if you tell him the prince is dead now and then tell him you are the prince- how much do you think he will believe you?" He peered at Snape narrowly, "Tell me, do you think he will believe you?"

Snape was silent.

Harry scoffed, "If it were me I wouldn't believe you. I might even think that it was you who had killed the halfblood prince." He glared at his good friend. "If it were up to me, I say use this opportunity to tell Remus everything, no matter how he reacts, at least the prince's feelings for him should convince him to let go of the idea of dying, as long as he stays alive everything else can be worked around, right?"

After opening and closing his mouth several times, Snape finally replied in an almost silent voice, "If we end up losing the war..."

Harry frowned as he interrupted Snape harshly, "We won't lose, victory will belong to us!"

His insistent attitude caused Snape to freeze for quite a while, _so, he was finally giving up his neutral stance?_ Truly no one can watch their loved one lose with equanimity.

"... alright, I admit you make sense. I will return to Remus and tell him the truth. No matter how hard it is, I will get him to accept me." Snape raised his goblet, "Cheers."

"Cheers." Harry raised his goblet in return, "Oh, right, you'll also have to tell Remus that the memories he had seen of the last two months were fake. Voldy seems to have forgotten to tell him." Harry said guiltily, no one would believe that Voldemort had forgotten. Voldemort must have been quite angry that Remus had taken two months to reveal the secret and so had deliberately concealed this fact so that Remus would suffer.

_Forgotten?_ Snape looked at Harry wordlessly.

**228.**

Under the faint yellow glow of the lamp, Harry was sprawled lazily over Voldemort's chest, sweat-soaked black hair plastered over his forehead, cat-green eyes misted and bright red lips moist and glowing. His slender fingers grasped Voldemort's left hand, playing with the man's fingers as he complained, "Voldy, why did you send Remus to Sev's house? You know that this would create problems for Sev- you should have kept Remus and not given him to Sev until after the war." What's done was done, all he could do was express his discontent and vent a little. He didn't know how things would develop between Remus and Snape so all he could do was vent a little temper at Voldemort.

Voldemort's right hand carded through Harry's sweat-damp hair as he smiled at hearing Harry's words, "I did this for Severus, think, up to now Severus has secretly love that were... loved Remus Lupin for more than ten years and he intended to keep going- Harry, as a friend, can you stand that he is torturing himself that way? Even I don't know how much longer this war will go on, it might even take several more years, should I have kept Lupin at our headquarters for years just so that Severus could silently watch him? In the past, we had no chance and no opportunity, now we have both, would it not be too wasteful to keep waiting like that?"

"Even so, how was Sev to explain things to Remus? If you hadn't taken things into your own hands, it might have been easier to explain."

"If I hadn't done what I did, there would _be_ nothing to explain." Was Voldemort's reply.

"But..."

"There are no buts, this is Severus' problem, let him take care of it, as for you, you need only solve my problem." As he spoke Voldemort rolled until he had pinned Harry beneath his body and sealed his lips over his lover's still moving lips.

"The love of a Slytherin is to take what you want, no matter what measures you use. Only the victor has the right to enjoy love."

Snape sat on an armchair next to the bed, silently watching the sleeping Remus, his sallow face drawn. When he left to meet with Harry, he had put Remus to sleep with a strong sleeping draught, he should be waking soon but Snape had not yet decided how to go about telling the truth. Just saying "Hi, I'm the halfblood prince" or "Hi, I love you"?

How idiotic.

He was starting to regret letting Harry convince him, it was not easy to come clean over everything under such awkward circumstances, who knows whether Remus would think that he was just impersonating the halfblood prince. He was Severus Snape, to the Marauders, he was the "greasy, big nosed Snivellus".

Mayby Remus would believe him, at least he had once believed, and even accepted- at that time he was not yet a Death Eater and had no blood on his hands. Now, he was a high level Death Eater and had killed countless people. Perhaps Remus could understand the circumstances of his enemies perhaps not- although, why should he explain? Slytherins never deign to explain anything!

He dropped his face into his palms in frustration, oh Master, why are you playing such a trick on your loyal follower? He knows that his actions in handling his love affair were not very Slytherin, but did his master have to play him like this? What if this had affected his resolve to the cause or his confidence, would that truly be alright? For the first time in his life, Snape indulged in some maligning of his respected and lofty master.

After some more internal grumbling, Snape lifted his head to check on Remus' condition but instead looked straight into his hate-filled yes. He paused for several seconds before opening his mouth, "Now that you are awake, eat something, then I have some things to tell you."

But in the end Snape was not able to tell Remus anything, three newly rising Death Eater muggles had come to sincerely ask for help, their attitudes were diffident and the matter quite urgent, so there was no way he could push this matter off. Even though he was no expert at muggle weaponry, he couldn't resist taking part in researching the ways to combine it with magic, and so, he went out for several says and when he returned, it was the day of the full moon.

**229.**

Under the effects of the full moon, Remus had transformed into a wolf, as he had taken the Wolfsbane potion on time, he was silently curled up and asleep by the crackling fire, but even in sleep his brows were drawn together in sorrow and desolation.

When Snape entered Remus' room, that was the sight that greeted him.

He seemed to have returned to that same full moon night five years ago, when he had carefully traversed the tunnels to make his way into the gloomy Shrieking Shack, like now, Remus was curled up in the corner asleep, still sorrowful and restless. That was the only time they had spent together peacefully in ten years, even though Snape had just silently watched the deeply asleep Remus in his wolf form, he had felt happy and content. He had thought that that time would be the only chance he would have to be so close to the one he loved, as though he could just reach out and touch him, he never thought that five years later he would have another chance to be within touching distance, and this time, he could get closer, and closer.

He sat beside Remus, hesitated, but finally reached out to rest a shaking hand on Remus' body. At the touch Remus' pointed ears twitched startling Snape into withdrawing his hand lightning fast and moving almost a meter away, after staring alertly for more than ten seconds, he could no longer curb his desire and again moved to Remus' side, reaching out his hand hesitantly, once again gently resting his hand on Remus' body. This time there was no reaction, he continued to sleep deeply, his back rising and falling with his slow, even breaths.

Snape's fingers lingered over the scars, exploring and soothing each as his heart was pained and bled over each old wound. A kind wizard who was unwilling to harm others, he had put all the wounds on his own body, no matter how many wounds he sustained. Werewolves willing to do this were not few in number, in truth only a small percentage of rather twisted werewolves would try to take out their own suffering on others, but only this werewolf could fill his heart with tenderness. If he could turn back time, he wished that he could have known Remus sooner so that he could have stayed by his side during the full moon, even if he would have been turned.

Snape's fingers lingered between Remus' brow and even deep in slumber, his frown remained, he tenderly rubbed the frowning brows, hoping to smooth them, very childish and silly but that was what he wanted to do.

After who knows how long, he had finally smoothed the deep folds on Remus' forehead and he seemed to be sleeping better. It was then that Snape found that Remus had uncurled his body and rested his head on Snape's thighs at some point, his two front paws resting on Snape's calves. His wholly trusting pose turned Snape's heart into a puddle of warm goo.

If only this moment could last forever.

Remus was dreaming, it was a dream that he often had, but that he never remembered upon waking. On the full moon nights that frightened him, there was always someone who silently accompanied him throughout the night, he sat silently in the other corner and stared at him unblinkingly. Remus could never make out that person's face, perhaps it was because it was a dream or perhaps it was because the Shrieking Shack was so dark, but those dark eyes, which were filled with his own form, and that scent of potions miraculously soothed his tightly strung heart and soul, it allowed him to feel a peace that he had not felt since he was attacked as a child. He had thought that it was just a dream, a dream that he had made up to fool himself, but the scent of potions that still lingered in the Shack upon waking told him that it was no dream, someone had risked their own life and safety to keep him company.

He had never told anyone about this, keeping this secret deep inside his heart. He believed this person to be the halfblood prince, he had no proof, it was just a feeling, his instincts told him that if anyone in the world would be will to do this for him, it would be the halfblood prince.

**230.**

But tonight's dream was different, in the past, the one who was with him always sat in the opposite corner and Remus could never see his face, but this time he could almost make it out as the person had come to his side. The wizard sat down and his well-shaped fingers gently caressed his body, suddenly, he felt restless, his body was covered with scars and ugly, the wizard would not find him pleasing, he wanted to escape, he didn't want to see the loathing in the wizard's eyes, but he could not move. All he could do was watch as the wizard stared at his broken, patchwork body, those strong fingers moving over every scar, he dared not look into the wizard's eyes for fear of seeing loathing and disdain in them but he could not bear to move away from the warmth of those fingers, the warmth that was seeping into his frozen body and icy heart. The wizard's fingers stopped at his forehead, rubbing gently yet insistently, slowly smoothing his deeply clenched brow. He kept his eyes closed as his body trembled, not daring to look but feeling those warm hands holding him and not letting go. He slowly relaxed his body, greedily languishing in the warmth the wizard provided but still not opening his eyes. This is a dream , just a dream, when he opens his eyes, all the wonder will disappear in the morning sunlight.

After an unknown length of time, a warm robe was wrapped around Remus and he realized that the man was leaving! Finally Remus could not hold back, whether or not it was a dream, at least let him know who this man was! And so he opened his eyes and finally saw the man's face, black mid-length hair floated at the sides of the face, framing the sallow face like curtains, high black brows gave the impression of a sneer and thin lips were pressed together, giving the face stern lines, a hooked nose made the lines of the face even more pronounced. This was a cold and distant face, apart from the eyes, those eyes that should have been cold and haughty were instead like a seemingly calm and peaceful ocean that held incredible currents beneath the surface, those eyes caused Remus' heart to thunder.

It was Snape. Severus Snape. Someone Remus would not have ever thought of.

In the past ten years they had never stopped being at odds with each other, each time they met it was filled with tension and insults that could lead to conflict with a single word or phrase. Although it could not be denied that Snape had once saved his life it had changed nothing, they had still been enemies who had never even given each other a civil look. The strange thing was that the dream Remus did not even feel the slightest bit of surprise or shock at the revelation of this answer, he completely and utterly accepted the fact that Snape was the one who had stayed by his side, nor did he think there was anything wrong with the inference that Snape was thus the halfblood prince- it was as though that was just the way things should be, that this answer was the correct answer. This first instance of clearly remembering his dream was slightly upsetting for Remus.

This was Snape! Severus Snape! Inside his mind he spoke this name syllable by syllable for emphasis: a contemptible, arrogant Slytherin; a gloomy Death Eater always deeply buried in the study of dark magic; someone who always insulted him and considered him an enemy; someone who had taken physical advantage of him while he had been helpless; a sod that- loved him? Was willing to risk mortal danger to keep him company in his wolf form? Someone who invented the wolfsbane potion for him and who continued to supply the potion to him during the war at the risk of Voldemort's displeasure, the halfblood prince? Oh Merlin, there was no more laughable thing than this!

Laughable! Preposterous! Impossible!

With a contemptuous look at his dream self who was obviously delusional, Remus opened his eyes. The morning sunlight was kept outside by the thick, black, gold-trimmed velvet curtains, making the spacious room slightly shadowed. He saw a man lying beside him, mid-length black hair, large hooked nose, thin lips, Severus Snape.

When had he come in? Remus was filled with shock as he sat up and found that a large and luxurious robe that was obviously not his was covering his upper body. He stilled as the dream flashed through his mind, for a moment he could not distinguish between dream and reality. Could his dream have been real? Was that person in the Shrieking Shack five years ago Snape? Further, was Snape the halfblood prince?

Could it be possible?

It was... only a dream right, this was Severus Snape!


End file.
